{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T10:24:36Z","timestamp":1787653476399,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"17","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787616000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences","award":["2021-I2M-1-022"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2021-I2M-1-022"]}]},{"name":"Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences","award":["2021-I2M-1-014"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2021-I2M-1-014"]}]},{"award":["2021-I2M-1-022"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2021-I2M-1-022"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02drdmm93","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["2021-I2M-1-014"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2021-I2M-1-014"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02drdmm93","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Int. J. Mol. Sci.","IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, highlighting the urgent need for novel therapeutic strategies. This study aimed to identify bioactive small RNAs derived from Maytenus hookeri Loes. and evaluate their anti-tumor potential against non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The 50 most abundant small RNAs were synthesized and screened in NCI-H460 cells using the MTS assay. Among them, MDM-sRNA-39 significantly inhibited cell viability and was selected for further evaluation of its anti-tumor activity. It reduced the percentage of cells that traversed the Transwell membrane and promoted apoptosis in NCI-H460 cells. Bioinformatics prediction suggested KRAS as a potential target of MDM-sRNA-39, and KRAS was among the targets experimentally validated by dual-luciferase reporter assays, RT-qPCR, and Western blot, showing that MDM-sRNA-39 suppresses KRAS expression at both mRNA and protein levels. In vivo, MDM-sRNA-39 was orally administered as a bencaosome in a KrasLSL-G12D\/p53LoxP\/LoxP autochthonous lung cancer mouse model. Tumor burden was reduced and cleaved caspase-3 staining was increased in the mouse model. Collectively, these findings identify MDM-sRNA-39, a synthetic small RNA based on a sequence identified from Maytenus hookeri Loes., as a candidate with anti-tumor activity, supporting the potential strategy for developing RNA-based therapeutics from traditional Chinese medicine.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms27177601","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T10:04:55Z","timestamp":1787652295000},"page":"7601","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Antitumor Activity of a Synthetic Small RNA Based on a Maytenus hookeri Sequence in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-6929-2299","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dengyuan","family":"Liu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Common Mechanism Research for Major Diseases, Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences & School of Basic Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100005, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xinmeng","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Common Mechanism Research for Major Diseases, Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences & School of Basic Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100005, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sifen","family":"Du","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Common Mechanism Research for Major Diseases, Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences & School of Basic Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100005, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8107-3732","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Na","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Common Mechanism Research for Major Diseases, Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences & School of Basic Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100005, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yexuan","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Common Mechanism Research for Major Diseases, Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences & School of Basic Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100005, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yixin","family":"Dong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Common Mechanism Research for Major Diseases, Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences & School of Basic Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100005, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chengyu","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Common Mechanism Research for Major Diseases, Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences & School of Basic Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100005, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"229","article-title":"Global cancer statistics 2022: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries","volume":"74","author":"Bray","year":"2024","journal-title":"CA Cancer J. 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