Besides playing a critical role in drug-induced neuroplasticity relevant to addiction, there is emerging evidence that miR-212 is also involved in a host of other biological and pathophysiological processes. Indeed, miR-212 expression is deregulated in various cancers and its expression has been correlated to disease progression. In pancreatic carcinomas it has been shown that miR-212 targets the tumor suppressor retinoblastoma (Rb1) (Park et al., 2011), whereas the methyl binding protein (MeCP2) seems to be the main target in some of the gastric tumors (Wada et al., 2010). Incoronato et al. showed that miR-212 targets phosphoprotein enriched in diabetes (PED), a wide spectrum anti-apoptotic protein, and thereby plays an important role in tumor suppression (Incoronato et al., 2010). In a follow up study the same group also demonstrated that the expression on miR-212 in lung carcinomas is regulated by histone modifications (Incoronato et al., 2011). This suggests that epigenetic mechanisms may play an important role in regulating miRNA expression in different cancers and other biological processes.
