Mir-221 microRNA

In molecular biology, mir-221 microRNA (and its paralogue, mir-222) is a short RNA molecule. MicroRNAs function to regulate the expression levels of other genes by several mechanisms.

mir-221
Conserved secondary structure of mir-221
Identifiers
Symbol	mir-221
Rfam	RF00651
miRBase family	MIPF0000051
HGNC	31601
OMIM	300568
Other data
RNA type	microRNA
Domain(s)	Eukaryota; Vertebrata;
PDB structures	PDBe

mir-221 is an oncogenic microRNA.^[1] It targets CD117, which then prevents cell migration and proliferation in endothelial cells.^[2][3] miR-221 is known as an anti angiogenic miRNA.^[4][2] Recent important studies have reported that miR-221 is also involved in induction of angiogenesis.^[5][6][7] RNA induced Silencing Complex (RISC) proteins SND1 and AEG-1 induces miR-221 expression in Liver cancer.^[8] In liver cancer miR-221 induces the tumor angiogenesis.^[5] miR-221 detection in human faeces can be a non-invasive screening marker for colorectal cancer.^[9]

miR-221 has been identified as playing a role in androgenetic alopecia.^[10]

See also

• MicroRNA