miRNA: A Promising Therapeutic Target in Cancer

Abstract

microRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that regulate several genes post-transcriptionally by complementarity pairing. Since discovery, they have been reported to be involved in a variety of biological functions and pathologies including cancer. In cancer, they can act as a tumor suppressor or oncomiR depending on the cell type. Studies have shown that miRNA-based therapy, either by inhibiting an oncomiR or by inducing a tumor suppressor, is effective in cancer treatment. This review focusses on the role of miRNA in cancer, therapeutic approaches with miRNAs and how they can be effectively delivered into a system. We have also summarized the patents and clinical trials in progress for miRNA therapy.

Hypoxia-induced downregulation of microRNA-186-5p in endothelial cells promotes non-small cell lung cancer angiogenesis by upregulating protein kinase C alpha

“…A major prerequisite to achieve this is the development of miRNA modifications and sophisticated delivery systems, which enable a high efficiency and specificity of miRNA-based therapeutics. 48 , 49 Moreover, it has to be guaranteed that such therapeutics are safe and do not induce severe side effects in patients. 50 , 51 Tremendous progress in miRNA bioengineering, nanotechnology, and viral vector development may markedly contribute to fulfilling these criteria in future clinical practice.…”

Posttranscriptional Regulation of the Plasminogen Activation System by Non-Coding RNA in Cancer

“…However, the main issue still remains in the off-target effects of miR-based therapeutics, which need to be addressed in order to reduce their toxicity without affecting their therapeutic effects. To date, only 10 miR-based molecules have been tested in clinical trials and none of them has entered into phase III clinical trials [ 37 ].…”

Identification of m7G Methylation-Related miRNA Signature Associated with Survival and Immune Microenvironment Regulation in Uterine Corpus Endometrial Carcinoma

“…The obtained proteins encoded by 28 m7G-related genes play multiple roles in m7G biological processes, which in turn affect cancer progression [8][9][10][11]. It has been demonstrated that miRNAs regulate gene expression posttranscriptionally [12]. miRNAs can affect tumor progression by regulating the expression of downstream m7G-related genes [13,14].…”