Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Review
  • Published:

Viruses, microRNAs and cancer

Oncogene volume 25, pages 6211–6219 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Viruses represent one of the main factors that cause normal cells to proliferate and to become malignant: up to 15% of all human cancers are associated with single or multiple virus infections, and several viruses have been recognized as causal agents of specific types of cancer. Viruses have evolved many strategies to prevent infected cells from becoming apoptotic and to evade the innate and adaptive immune responses of their hosts. The recent discovery that Epstein–Barr virus and other herpesviruses produce their own sets of micro (mi)RNAs brings an additional layer of complexity in this ongoing host–virus arms race and changes our initial views of the antiviral roles of RNA silencing in plants and insects. It seems that, rather than being inhibited by this process, many mammalian viruses can usurp or divert the host RNA silencing machinery to their advantage. Viral-encoded miRNAs can act both in cis, to ensure accurate expression of viral genomes, and in trans, to modify the expression of host transcripts. Here, we review the current knowledge on viral miRNAs and discuss how mammalian viruses can also perturb host miRNA expression. Those recent findings provide new insights into the role of viruses and miRNAs in cancer development.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahuja D, Saenz-Robles MT, Pipas JM . (2005). Oncogene 24: 7729–7745.

  • Andersson MG, Haasnoot PC, Xu N, Berenjian S, Berkhout B, Akusjarvi G . (2005). J Virol 79: 9556–9565.

  • Aparicio O, Razquin N, Zaratiegui M, Narvaiza I, Fortes P . (2006). J Virol 80: 1376–1384.

  • Bergmann M, Garcia-Sastre A, Carnero E, Pehamberger H, Wolff K, Palese P et al. (2000). J Virol 74: 6203–6206.

  • Bucher E, Hemmes H, de Haan P, Goldbach R, Prins M . (2004). J Gen Virol 85: 983–991.

  • Cai X, Hagedorn CH, Cullen BR . (2004). RNA 10: 1957–1966.

  • Cai X, Lu S, Zhang Z, Gonzalez CM, Damania B, Cullen BR . (2005). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102: 5570–5575.

  • Cai X, Schafer A, Lu S, Bilello JP, Desrosiers RC, Edwards R et al. (2006). PLoS Pathog 2: e23.

  • Chapman EJ, Prokhnevsky AI, Gopinath K, Dolja VV, Carrington JC . (2004). Genes Dev 18: 1179–1186.

  • Cory S, Huang DC, Adams JM . (2003). Oncogene 22: 8590–8607.

  • Cui C, Griffiths A, Li G, Silva LM, Kramer MF, Gaasterland T et al. (2006). J Virol 80: 5499–5508.

  • Cullen BR . (2006). Nat Immunol 7: 563–567.

  • Deleris A, Gallego-Bartolome J, Bao J, Kasschau KD, Carrington JC, Voinnet O . (2006). Science 313: 68–71.

  • Ding SW, Li H, Lu R, Li F, Li WX . (2004). Virus Res 102: 109–115.

  • Dunn W, Trang P, Zhong Q, Yang E, van Belle C, Liu F . (2005). Cell Microbiol 7: 1684–1695.

  • Dunoyer P, Lecellier CH, Parizotto EA, Himber C, Voinnet O . (2004). Plant Cell 16: 1235–1250.

  • Galiana-Arnoux D, Dostert C, Schneemann A, Hoffmann JA, Imler JL . (2006). Nat Immunol 7: 590–597.

  • Gottwein E, Cai X, Cullen BR . (2006). J Virol 80: 5321–5326.

  • Grey F, Antoniewicz A, Allen E, Saugstad J, McShea A, Carrington JC et al. (2005). J Virol 79: 12095–12099.

  • Grimm D, Streetz KL, Jopling CL, Storm TA, Pandey K, Davis CR et al. (2006). Nature 441: 537–541.

  • Grundhoff A, Sullivan CS, Ganem D . (2006). RNA 12: 733–750.

  • Gupta A, Gartner JJ, Sethupathy P, Hatzigeorgiou AG, Fraser NW . (2006). Nature 442: 82–85.

  • Hamilton AJ, Baulcombe DC . (1999). Science 286: 950–952.

  • He L, Thomson JM, Hemann MT, Hernando-Monge E, Mu D, Goodson S et al. (2005). Nature 435: 828–833.

  • Johnson SM, Lin SY, Slack FJ . (2003). Dev Biol 259: 364–379.

  • Jopling CL, Yi M, Lancaster AM, Lemon SM, Sarnow P . (2005). Science 309: 1577–1581.

  • Khalili K, Del Valle L, Otte J, Weaver M, Gordon J . (2003). Oncogene 22: 5181–5191.

  • Kieff E, Rickinson AB . (2001). Epstein-Barr virus and its replication. In: Fields BN, Knipe DM, Howley PM, Griffin DE, Lamb RA, Martin MA, Roizman B and Straus SE (eds). Fields Virology, Vol. 2, Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins: Philadelphia, pp. 2511–2551.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kliche S, Nagel W, Kremmer E, Atzler C, Ege A, Knorr T et al. (2001). Mol Cell 7: 833–843.

  • Lakatos L, Csorba T, Pantaleo V, Chapman EJ, Carrington JC, Liu YP et al. (2006). EMBO J 25: 2768–2780.

  • Lecellier CH, Dunoyer P, Arar K, Lehmann-Che J, Eyquem S, Himber C et al. (2005). Science 308: 557–560.

  • Lee Y, Ahn C, Han J, Choi H, Kim J, Yim J et al. (2003). Nature 425: 415–419.

  • Lee Y, Kim M, Han J, Yeom KH, Lee S, Baek SH et al. (2004). EMBO J 23: 4051–4060.

  • Li WX, Li H, Lu R, Li F, Dus M, Atkinson P et al. (2004). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101: 1350–1355.

  • Lu S, Cullen BR . (2004). J Virol 78: 12868–12876.

  • Macrae AI, Dutia BM, Milligan S, Brownstein DG, Allen DJ, Mistrikova J et al. (2001). J Virol 75: 5315–5327.

  • Mallory AC, Reinhart BJ, Bartel D, Vance VB, Bowman LH . (2002). Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 99: 15228–15233.

  • Merai Z, Kerenyi Z, Kertesz S, Magna M, Lakatos L, Silhavy D . (2006). J Virol 80: 5747–5756.

  • Moore PS, Chang Y . (2001). In: Fields BN, Knipe DM, Howley PM, Griffin DE, Lamb RA, Martin MA, Roizman B and Straus SE (Eds). Fields Virology Vol. 2, Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins: Philadelphia, pp. 2803–2833.

    Google Scholar 

  • Navarro L, Dunoyer P, Jay F, Arnold B, Dharmasiri N, Estelle M et al. (2006). Science 312: 436–439.

  • O'Donnell KA, Wentzel EA, Zeller KI, Dang CV, Mendell JT . (2005). Nature 435: 839–843.

  • Obbard DJ, Jiggins FM, Halligan DL, Little TJ . (2006). Curr Biol 16: 580–585.

  • Pearce M, Matsumura S, Wilson AC . (2005). J Virol 79: 14457–14464.

  • Pfeffer S, Sewer A, Lagos-Quintana M, Sheridan R, Sander C, Grasser FA et al. (2005). Nat Methods 2: 269–276.

  • Pfeffer S, Zavolan M, Grasser FA, Chien M, Russo JJ, Ju J et al. (2004). Science 304: 734–736.

  • Rickinson A, Kieff E . (2001). In: Fields BN, Knipe DM, Howley PM, Griffin DE, Lamb RA, Martin MA, Roizman B and Straus SE (Eds). Fields Virology, Vol. 2, Lippincott: Williams & Wilkins: Philadelphia, pp. 2575–2627.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadler R, Wu L, Forghani B, Renne R, Zhong W, Herndier B et al. (1999). J Virol 73: 5722–5730.

  • Samols MA, Hu J, Skalsky RL, Renne R . (2005). J Virol 79: 9301–9305.

  • Sano M, Kato Y, Taira K . (2006). FEBS Lett 580: 1553–1564.

  • Skaletskaya A, Bartle LM, Chittenden T, McCormick AL, Mocarski ES, Goldmacher VS . (2001). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98: 7829–7834.

  • Soderberg-Naucler C . (2006). J Intern Med 259: 219–246.

  • Soussi T, Lozano G . (2005). Biochem Biophys Res Commun 331: 834–842.

  • Speck SH, Virgin HW . (1999). Curr Opin Microbiol 2: 403–409.

  • Sullivan CS, Ganem D . (2005). Mol Cell 20: 3–7.

  • Sullivan CS, Grundhoff AT, Tevethia S, Pipas JM, Ganem D . (2005). Nature 435: 682–686.

  • Taub R, Kirsch I, Morton C, Lenoir G, Swan D, Tronick S et al. (1982). Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 79: 7837–7841.

  • Tognon M, Corallini A, Martini F, Negrini M, Barbanti-Brodano G . (2003). Oncogene 22: 5192–5200.

  • Vargason JM, Szittya G, Burgyan J, Hall TM . (2003). Cell 115: 799–811.

  • Voinnet O . (2005). Nat Rev Genet 6: 206–220.

  • Wang XH, Aliyari R, Li WX, Li HW, Kim K, Carthew R et al. (2006). Science 312: 452–454.

  • Watanabe T, Takeda A, Tsukiyama T, Mise K, Okuno T, Sasaki H et al. (2006). Genes Dev 20: 1732–1743.

  • Xiang Y, Condit RC, Vijaysri S, Jacobs B, Williams BR, Silverman RH . (2002). J Virol 76: 5251–5259.

  • Yang W, Chendrimada TP, Wang Q, Higuchi M, Seeburg PH, Shiekhattar R et al. (2006). Nat Struct Mol Biol 13: 13–21.

  • Ye K, Malinina L, Patel DJ . (2003). Nature 426: 874–878.

  • Yeung ML, Bennasser Y, Myers T, Jiang G, Benkirane M, Jeang KT . (2005). Retrovirology 2: 81.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IBMP-CNRS, rue du Général Zimmer, Strasbourg, France

    S Pfeffer & O Voinnet

Authors
  1. S Pfeffer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. O Voinnet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to S Pfeffer or O Voinnet.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pfeffer, S., Voinnet, O. Viruses, microRNAs and cancer. Oncogene 25, 6211–6219 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1209915

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1209915

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links