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MicroRNA miR-155 is one of the most characterized and actively studied microRNAs that regulate processes closely related to carcinogenesis, including cell differentiation, adhesion, migration and invasion of the tumor cells, metastasis, apoptosis and immunosuppression. In addition, this miRNA is involved in differentiation of hematopoetic cells and developing of inflammation. The association between specific deregulation of the expression of miR-155 and carcinogenesis is confirmed by a number of both fundamental and clinical studies and is due to the posttranscriptional regulation of the most important genes of the tumor associated pathways. Modulation of the levels of expression of miR-155 is associated with the emergence of a number of leukemias and lymphomas, as well as some solid tumors. An increase of the level of cellular and/or circulating miR-155 in some cancers can serve as a marker for progression and drug resistance. In addition, inhibition of the expression of miR-155 can be a promising method for developing new approaches in antitumor therapy.

Lipid rafts are lateral assembles of cholesterol, sphingomyelin, glicosphingolipids and specific proteins within cell plasma membrane. These microdomains are involved into a number of important cellular processes including membrane rearrangement, protein internalization, signal transduction, entry of viruses into the cell. Some of lipid rafts are stabilized by special microdomain-forming proteins such as caveolins, SPFH domain containing superfamily, tetraspanins, galectins, which maintain integrity of rafts and regulate signal transduction via forming of “signalosomes”. Involvement of the different lipid rafts is necessary in many situations such as binding of growth factors with their receptors, integrin regulation, cytoskeleton and extracellular matrix rearrangements, vesicular transport, etc. However, such classes of microdomain-forming proteins are still considered separately from each other. In this review we tried to perform complex analysis of microdomain-forming proteins in regulation of cancer assotiated processes.