Expression Levels of microRNA Processing Enzymes Dicer and Drosha in Epithelial Skin Cancer

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are very small endogenous RNA molecules about 22-25 nucleotides in length, capable of post-transcriptional gene regulation. miRNAs bind to their target messenger RNAs (mRNAs), leading to cleavage or suppression of target mRNA translation based on the degree of complementarity. miRNAs have recently been shown to play pivotal roles in diverse developmental and cellular processes and linked to a variety of skin diseases and cancers. In the present study the expression profiles for the two most important miRNA processing enzymes Dicer and Drosha of actinic keratoses, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma are compared to healthy skin tissue.