Dysregulation of Transfer RNA-derived Small RNAs that Regulate Cell Activity and its Related Signaling Pathways in Human Cancers

Abstract

tsRNAs are small noncoding RNAs that originate from tRNA cleavage and play important regulatory roles in gene expression, translation, transcription, and epigenetic modification. The dysregulation of tsRNAs in cancer disrupts gene expression and perturbs various cellular activities, including cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and invasion. Moreover, tsRNAs may influence cancer development by regulating related cell signaling pathways. In this review, we first examine the origins and classification of tsRNAs and their effects on tumor cell activity. To highlight the latest research progress of tsRNAs and signaling pathways, we summarize the possible mechanisms of tsRNAs in specific tumor-related signaling pathways, including the Wnt, TGFb1, MAPK, PI3K-AKT, Notch, and MDM2/p53 signaling pathways, that have been identified in recent research.

Keywords: cancer; cell activity; dysregulation; signaling pathway; tRFs; tsRNAs.