Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of short, non-coding RNAs that play an important role in a wide range of biological processes by directly binding to and repressing the expression of certain target genes in a post-transcriptional manner. More than one-half of human genes were controlled by miRNAs and their abnormal expression was discovered in different human illnesses, including malignancies. In recent years, researchers have discovered mounting evidence that the recently discovered miRNA miRNA-338 has a role in the development of a wide variety of malignancies, including lung cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, breast cancer, glioma, and others. Although a number of targets and signaling pathways such as MACC1 and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway were revealed to be controlled by miRNA-338, their roles in tumor growth are still vague and the underlying molecular processes are still uncertain. In this article, we summarized the current state of knowledge on miRNA-338 and its activities in various human cancers in the hopes that this would spark fresh ideas for future research and the development of targeted therapies.