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Table 1 The role of PIWI/piRNAs in various cancer

From: The epigenetic regulatory mechanism of PIWI/piRNAs in human cancers

Tumor type

PIWI/piRNA

Expression in tumors

Biological function

Regulatory mechanism

Refs

Cervical cancer

piRNA-14633

Up-regulated

Promote tumorigenesis

Increasing CYP1B1 m6A level through up-regulating the expression of METTL14

[84]

DLBCL

piRNA-30472

Up-regulated

Promote tumorigenesis

Increasing HK2 m6A level through up-regulating the expression of WTAP

[85]

Breast cancer

pi-sno75

PIWIL4

Down-regulated

Suppress tumorigenesis

Inducing H3K4 methylation and H3K27 demethylation of TRAIL by recruiting PIWIL4/MLL3

[92]

PIWIL2

PIWIL4

Underexpression

Suppress tumorigenesis

Down-regulated expression of DNMT1, histone H1, HP1 and SUV39H1

[94]

piR-651

PIWIL2

Up-regulated

Promote tumorigenesis

Inducing methylation of PTEN promoter by recruiting PIWIL2/DNMT1

[105]

piRNA-823

Up-regulated

Promote tumorigenesis

Promoting the expression of DNMTs, such as DNMT1, DNMT3A and DNMT3B, and thus inducing the hypermethylation of APC

[108]

piR-021285

Genetic variant

Suppress tumorigenesis

Promoting the methylation of proinvasive ARHGAP11A 5’UTR/first exon

[109]

 

piRNA-36712

PIWIL1

Down-regulated

Suppress tumorigenesis

Combining with PIWIL1 to form RISC, which is targeted to degrade SEPW1P, subsequently reduces SEPW1 expression through competition of SEPW1 mRNA with SEPW1P RNA for microRNA-7 and microRNA-324

[129]

Leukemia

piR-011186

piR-014637

Up-regulated

Promote tumorigenesis

Form complexes with DNMT1, Suv39H1 and EZH2 proteins that regulate the methylation level of the DNA and Histone H3 in the CDKN2B promoter site

[93]

MM

piRNA-823

Up-regulated

Promote tumorigenesis

Activating DNMT3B and upregulating DNA methylation level

[108]

piRNA-823

Up-regulated

Promote tumorigenesis

Up-regulating expression of DNMT3A and 3B, leading to the methylation of tumor suppressor gene p16(INK4A)

[113]

ESCC

piRNA-823

Up-regulated

Promote tumorigenesis

piR-823 may promote ESCC progression through DNMT3b-mediated DNA methylation

[107]

Prostate cancer

piRNA-31470

PIWIL4

Up-regulated

Promote tumorigenesis

Inducing methylation of GSTP1 CpG islands by recruiting PIWIL4/DNMT1 and 3α

[114]

Lung cancer

PIWIL1

Up-regulated

Promote tumorigenesis

Modulating GMIP DNA methylation

[117]

piRNA-L-163

Down-regulated

Suppress tumorigenesis

Binding directly to p-ERM and regulates ERM functional activities

[123]

piR-55490

Down-regulated

Suppress tumorigenesis

Binding 3'UTR of mTOR mRNA and induce its degradation

[125]

Pancreatic cancer

PIWIL1

Up-regulated

Promote tumorigenesis

As a coactivator of APC/C complex rather than a substrate, targets cell adhesion protein Pinin for proteolytic ubiquitination

[70]

Gastric cancer

PIWIL1

Up-regulated

Promote tumorigenesis

Interaction with the UPF1-mediated nonsense-mediated mRNA decay mechanism

[7]

Colon cancer

piR-823

Up-regulated

Promote tumorigenesis

Enhancing the transcriptional activity of HSF1

[69]

piRNA-1245

Upregulated

Promote tumorigenesis

Targeting 3’UTR, CDS or 5’UTR region of the tumor suppressor gene

[69, 126, 127]

Neuroblastoma

piRNA-39980

Upregulated

Promote tumorigenesis

Inhibiting the expression of JAK3 through target binding

[130]

Bladder cancer

piRABC

Down-regulated

Suppress tumorigenesis

Up-regulating TNFSF4

[131]