MicroRNAs at the Crossroad of the Dichotomic Pathway Cell Death vs. Stemness in Neural Somatic and Cancer Stem Cells: Implications and Therapeutic Strategies

Abstract

Stemness and apoptosis may highlight the dichotomy between regeneration and demise in the complex pathway proceeding from ontogenesis to the end of life. In the last few years, the concept has emerged that the same microRNAs (miRNAs) can be concurrently implicated in both apoptosis-related mechanisms and cell differentiation. Whether the differentiation process gives rise to the architecture of brain areas, any long-lasting perturbation of miRNA expression can be related to the occurrence of neurodevelopmental/neuropathological conditions. Moreover, as a consequence of neural stem cell (NSC) transformation to cancer stem cells (CSCs), the fine modulation of distinct miRNAs becomes necessary. This event implies controlling the expression of pro/anti-apoptotic target genes, which is crucial for the management of neural/neural crest-derived CSCs in brain tumors, neuroblastoma, and melanoma. From a translational point of view, the current progress on the emerging miRNA-based neuropathology therapeutic applications and antitumor strategies will be disclosed and their advantages and shortcomings discussed.

SmartFlareTM is a reliable method for assessing mRNA expression in single neural stem cells

“…Although FISH is a well-established and reliable qualitative molecular method, the advantages of SmartFlare TM technology could reside in the opportunity of analyzing unfixed single living cells, retaining their viability, morpho-functional and biochemical properties and allowing downstream experiments[ 31 ]. In particular, this approach could help to detect and count stem/progenitor living cells, expressing markers of stemness, in terms of differential expression of the relative mRNAs, as well as microRNAs, which could find application in the profiling of tumor cell heterogeneity[ 32 , 33 ]. Moreover, from an empirical perspective, the SmartFlare TM could be a quicker, easier and less expensive method than techniques involving RNA isolation.…”