MicroRNAs and lymphomagenesis: a functional review

The relatively recent discovery of microRNAs (miRNAs) has exposed an extra layer of gene expression regulation that affects many physiological and pathological processes of biology. Dysregulation of miRNAs is a ubiquitous feature of cancer in general, including lymphomas. The identity of these aberrantly-expressed miRNAs has been thoroughly investigated in all but a few types of lymphomas, however their functional role in lymphomagenesis much less so. This review focuses on those miRNAs that have an experimentally confirmed functional role in the pathogenesis of the most frequent forms of lymphoma. In particular, the MIR15A/16-1 cluster, MIR21, MIR155, MIR17HG (MIR17-92 cluster), MIR34A and MIR125B, which have in vivo animal model evidence for their involvement in lymphomagenesis, are highlighted.