Sex hormone-dependent tRNA halves enhance cell proliferation in breast and prostate cancers

Breast and prostate cancers are distinguished from other cancers in that sex hormones are highly involved in cancer development and progression. High levels of these sex hormons has been indicated as major causes for cancer development. A recent study on PNAS has indicated that a special type of tRNA termed SHOT-RNAs, which are small functional RNAs, are abundantly expressed in sex hormone-dependent breast and prostate cancers. Results from this study indicates that there is a direct relationship between enrichment or depletion of sex hormones and SHOT-RNA levels and this is thought to be a useful biomarker and can potentially lead to therapeutic applications.