ArticleOncogenesis2025
Chasing non-existent "microRNAs" in cancer.
Article in Oncogenesis, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- MicroRNA Signatures of Prostate Cancer Spheroids in Microfluidic Culture Under Hormone-Deprivation Conditions.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- How Soon is Soon Enough? Consideration of Timing and Disease Etiology for microRNAs in Epilepsy.Epilepsy currents · 2025Review
- Knowing is not enough; we must apply: the case for rigorous microRNA annotation standards.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- A noncanonical Pol III-dependent, Microprocessor-independent biogenesis pathway generates a germline-enriched miRNA family.Genes & development · 2025Article
- Half of annotated human microRNAs are expressed at levels of questionable biological significance.iScience · 2025Article
- Spatiotemporal Control of microRNA-Target Interactions.Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. RNAReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important regulators of gene expression whose dysregulation is widely linked to tumourigenesis, tumour progression and Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT), a developmental process that promotes metastasis when inappropriately activated. However, controversy has emerged regarding how many functional miRNAs are encoded in the genome, and to what extent non-regulatory products of RNA degradation have been mis-identified as miRNAs. Central to miRNA function is their capacity to associate with an Argonaute (AGO) protein and form an RNA-Induced Silencing Complex (RISC), which mediates target mRNA suppression. We report that numerous "miRNAs" previously reported in EMT and cancer contexts, are not incorporated into RISC and are not capable of endogenously silencing target genes, despite the fact that hundreds of publications in the cancer field describe their roles. Apparent function can be driven through the expression of artificial miRNA mimics which is not necessarily reflective of any endogenous gene regulatory function. We present biochemical and bioinformatic criteria that can be used to distinguish functional miRNAs from mistakenly annotated RNA fragments.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.