Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a deadly hematologic malignancy characterized by the uncontrolled growth of immature myeloid cells. Over the past several decades, we have learned a tremendous amount regarding the genetic aberrations that govern disease development in AML. Among these are genes that encode noncoding RNAs, including the microRNA (miRNA) family. miRNAs are evolutionarily conserved small noncoding RNAs that display important physiological effects through their posttranscriptional regulation of messenger RNA targets. Over the past decade, studies have identified miRNAs as playing a role in nearly all aspects of AML disease development, including cellular proliferation, survival, and differentiation. These observations have led to the study of miRNAs as biomarkers of disease, and efforts to therapeutically manipulate miRNAs to improve disease outcome in AML are ongoing. Although much has been learned regarding the importance of miRNAs in AML disease initiation and progression, there are many unanswered questions and emerging facets of miRNA biology that add complexity to their roles in AML. Moving forward, answers to these questions will provide a greater level of understanding of miRNA biology and critical insights into the many translational applications for these small regulatory RNAs in AML.

急性髓细胞性白血病（AML）是一种致命的血液系统恶性肿瘤，其特征在于未成熟的骨髓细胞的生长不受控制。在过去的几十年中，我们已经掌握了许多有关AML中控制疾病发展的遗传畸变的知识。其中包括编码非编码RNA的基因，包括microRNA（miRNA）家族。miRNA是进化保守的小非编码RNA，通过其信使RNA靶标的转录后调控显示重要的生理作用。在过去的十年中，研究发现miRNA在AML疾病发展的几乎所有方面都起作用，包括细胞增殖，存活和分化。这些观察结果导致人们对miRNA作为疾病的生物标记物进行了研究，正在进行治疗性操作miRNA改善AML疾病预后的工作。尽管已经了解到许多关于miRNA在AML疾病发生和发展中的重要性的知识，但仍有许多未解决的问题和miRNA生物学的新出现面使它们在AML中的作用更加复杂。展望未来，对这些问题的答案将提供对miRNA生物学的更高水平的理解，以及对AML中这些小调控RNA的许多翻译应用的批判性见解。