MicroRNAs and the Immune System Methods and Protocols
In recent years, the critical role of microRNAs has been revealed within the biology of cells that constitute the immune system. In MicroRNAs and the Immune System: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers explore the latest techniques for studying miRNA
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Molecular Biology™
Series Editor John M. Walker School of Life Sciences University of Hertfordshire Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL10 9AB, UK
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MicroRNAs and the Immune System Methods and Protocols Edited by
Silvia Monticelli Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Bellinzona, Switzerland
Editor Silvia Monticelli Institute for Research in Biomedicine Bellinzona Switzerland [email protected]
ISSN 1064-3745 e-ISSN 1940-6029 ISBN 978-1-60761-810-2 e-ISBN 978-1-60761-811-9 DOI 10.1007/978-1-60761-811-9 Library of Congress Control Number: 2010935486 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Humana Press, c/o Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Cover Illustration: Image courtesy of Lorenzo Deho’ Printed on acid-free paper Humana Press is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface The hematopoietic system is a paradigm for the differentiation of distinct cell lineages from multipotent progenitors. Differentiation is modulated by an intricate network of growth and transcription factors that simultaneously regulate the commitment, proliferation, apoptosis, and maturation of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous small noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression by binding to target messenger RNAs and inducing translational repression, cleavage, or destabilization of the target. Each miRNA can potentially regulate expression of a distinct set of genes and therefore miRNAs appear ideally suited to rapidly adjusting protein concentrations in cells, as would be expected to be required during cell differentiation. In fact, certain miRNAs are differentially expressed, both spatially and temporally, in many types of immune cells. Moreover, consistent with the discovery that miRNAs modulate gene expression, altered miRNA expression has been associated with various types of diseases, including cancer. The overall importance of miRNAs during hematopoiesis has been investigated by specific disruption of steps in miRNA biogenesis, indicating a critical function for miRNAs in the biology of cells that constitute the immune system. In this volume of Methods in Molecular Biology, various methods to study miRNA expression in cells of the immune system are described, such as splinted ligation and
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