Single nucleotide alterations in MicroRNAs and human cancer-A not fully explored field

MicroRNAs are similar to 20 nt long small noncoding RNAs that are processed from stem-looped precursors and function mainly as posttranscriptional regulators of protein coding genes through binding to 3'-untranslated regions of messenger RNAs to inhibit the translation or cause RNA degradation. It is predicted microRNAs could regulate up to half of all human genes and are proved to play important roles in human diseases including cancer. They bind to target mRNAs based on complementary binding which is dominated by the so-called seed region which are the 5' 2-8 bases of the microRNA. Due to the small size in nature, even a single nucleotide variation in the precursor region especially those located in the seed regions could show big influence. Here, I summarized and reviewed the current knowledge of these single nucleotide alterations in microRNAs in human cancer including (i) common SNPs in the precursor region, (ii) isomiRs, (iii) somatic mutations of microRNAs. Briefly, this is an underexploited field and clearly, warrants further studies to reveal their biological and clinical significances. I believe they will be key to advancing personalized medicine.