: Its expression levels in peripheral blood or tissues can serve as a biomarker for cancer prognosis or disease staging.
: It generally acts as a tumor suppressor . Its downregulation is linked to increased proliferation and metastasis in glioblastoma, lung, breast, and colorectal cancers by failing to inhibit oncogenic pathways like EGFR/PI3K/Akt . Mirna.7z
: In the pancreas, it is the most abundant endocrine miRNA in islets, where it acts as a "brake" on adult beta-cell proliferation and helps regulate insulin secretion. : Its expression levels in peripheral blood or
: It regulates the development of the pituitary gland, optic nervous system, and cerebral cortex by targeting factors like PAX6 , which is essential for eye and brain organogenesis. : In the pancreas, it is the most
: Its levels are controlled post-transcriptionally by "sponges" like circular RNA ciRS-7 (also known as CDR1as), which contains over 70 binding sites for miR-7 and can effectively quench its activity. Role in Pathophysiology
: In Parkinson’s disease , miR-7 levels are typically decreased, leading to the toxic accumulation of α-synuclein . Conversely, its levels are often upregulated in Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia.
The dysregulation of miR-7 is a hallmark of several major pathologies: