Characterization of the Role of MicroRNAs in Hepatic Cancer Stem Cells

Abstract

Liver cancer is one of the most malignant tumors and is prone to relapse, metastasis and drug resistance. These phenomena can be explained by the existence of cancer stem cells (CSCs). CSCs have a strong ability to proliferate, are highly carcinogenic, exhibit multi-directional differentiation, develop drug resistance, and play critical roles in tumor radiotherapy, chemotherapy and tumor recurrence. miRNAs exert effects on oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. There are distinctive miRNA expression profiles in different types of tumors, and these profiles are closely related to tumorigenesis, differentiation, metastasis and prognosis. Studies have shown that miRNAs are abnormally expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma and have important regulatory effects on the self-renewal and differentiation of hepatic cancer stem cells (HCSCs) as well as on the initiation of tumorigenesis. Therefore, it is critical to understand the impact of miRNAs in HCSC and the associated molecular mechanisms to develop new methods for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of liver cancer.

Co-regulatory Network of Oncosuppressor miRNAs and Transcription Factors for Pathology of Human Hepatic Cancer Stem Cells (HCSC)

“…In agreement with the previous reports and reviews, our results proved the significant roles of the selected miRNAs on suppressing the pathways and biological processes associated with the cancer stemness such as, cell cycle, apoptosis, adherence junction, EMT and Wnt, TGF-β, PI3K-Akt, MAPK, ERBB and neurotrophin signaling pathways 8,9,29,43 . Also, we found many signaling pathways regulating cancer stemness that can be controlled/targeted by our selected miRNA panel such as, FoxO, HIF-1, and Hippo signaling pathways.…”