The Role of Small Nucleolar RNAs in Hematologic Malignancies: A Review of Targeted Diagnostic Approaches in Lymphoma and Leukemia
The Role of Small Nucleolar RNAs in Hematologic Malignancies: A Review of Targeted Diagnostic Approaches in Lymphoma and Leukemia
Nafiseh Yousefian,1Issa Layali,2Pezhman Shafiei Asheghabadi,3,*
1. 1 Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, Tehran Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. 4 Biology Association, Young Researchers and Elite Club, Tehran Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. 2. 2 Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, Tehran Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. 4 Biology Association, Young Researchers and Elite Club, Tehran Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. 3. 3Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, Tehran Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. 5Farhikhtegan Medical Convergence Sciences Research Center, Farhikhtegan Hospital, Tehran Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Introduction: Blood Cancer is the 4th most common cancer in men and women and has been a growing concern in the past decade. Also, blood cancers (leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma) have extensive symptoms that are difficult to diagnose and are often diagnosed late. Lymphoma and leukemia are deadly blood cancer syndromes, both of which are associated with the damage and increase of immature lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, and eosinophil cells, so paying attention to early detection approaches is of great importance. In this study, we describe the Small Nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) family and evaluate their role in the early diagnosis of leukemia and lymphoma.
Methods: In order to ensure the integration of the latest developments in this field, it was conducted an extensive search of the PubMed and Google Scholar databases from 2022 to 2024 and identified 21 articles that were most relevant to the topic of our paper.
Results: snoRNAs are non-coding molecules (ncMolecules) of different sizes, whose length usually varies between 60-300 nucleotides. The snoRNAs family includes 3 categories of “box H/ACA snoRNAs”, “box C/D snoRNAs” and “Small Cajal body-specific RNAs (scaRNAs)”. These snoRNAs are involved in ribosomal biogenesis, processing of ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), processing of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and production of small RNAs (sRNAs) such as MicroRNAs (miRNAs). Also, it has been found that snoRNAs have a potential role in hematopoiesis and malignant hematopoietic conditions, including leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. snoRNAs often show a different expression pattern in various blood malignancies. Recent researches, associate the abnormal expression of snoRNAs with inhibition of apoptosis, uncontrolled cell proliferation, angiogenesis and metastasis. This shows that snoRNAs can be investigated as potential biomarkers for the diagnosis of lymphoma and leukemia. Also, their participation in ribosomal biogenesis and production of miRNAs can be indirectly related to the recurrence and suppression of lymphoma and leukemia through the development or suppression of the expression pattern of many oncogenes.
Conclusion: Development of studies in the field of diagnostic approaches of snoRNAs in human cancers, due to their potential role in the biogenesis of many RNAs involved in gene expression pathways such as mRNA, rRNA and miRNA, as well as their different expression patterns in various blood malignancies, can help the emergence of new early detection approaches for lymphoma and leukemia.