Biological functions of miR-590 and its role in carcinogenesis

MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of non-coding single small RNAs transcribed from Eukaryotic genes, regulate gene expression at post-transcriptional levels via binding to 3′-untranslation region (3′ UTR) inducing translation inhibition or mRNA degradation of their targets. MiR-590 plays a key role in cellular proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and aging, and participates in development and progress of many diseases including cancer. Furthermore, miR-590 has different functions as a tumor suppressor or an oncogene by targeting various genes. This review is to summarize the structure, biological function and role of the miR-590 gene.