ABSTRACT
PAOLO ROMANIA, ALICE BERTAINA, GIORGIA BRACAGLIA, FRANCO LOCATELLI, DORIANA FRUCI, and ROSSELLA ROTA
INTRODUCTION
Epigenetic chromatin remodeling plays a pivotal role in normal mammalian development and post-natal tissue homeostasis. Indeed, lineage specification and cellular differentiation, which underlie embryo development and morphogenesis from a single pluripotent stem cell, are epigenetically regulated processes. The final result is the “plasticity” of an individual genotype that, through the activation of molecular cascades, timely and sequentially controlled, produces different phenotypes in response to different microenvironments. In the last 10 years, special attention has been paid to the non-protein coding portion of the genome such as non-coding small RNAs, among which are microRNAs (miRNAs), considered to be major regulators of developmental pathways [1-8]. Of note, chromatin remodeling and miRNA pathways have been shown to be interconnected and able to regulate each other. To date, it is recognized that the deregulation of the epigenetic-and miRNA-dependent control of gene expression underlies tumorigenesis.
