MiRNA as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for gastric cancer

Abstract

Gastric cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer mortality in the world. Aberrant expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) is the hallmark of this disease. MiRNAs are endogenous non-coding RNAs that are involved in many biological processes (e.g., cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, invasion and development) through gene repression. Deregulation of miRNA expression in gastric tumors and cancer cell lines have been documented to contribute in tumorigenesis, and the expression signature may correlate with different cancer types and clinicopathological features. Here, we summarized the updated gastric cancer-associated miRNAs and the downstream targets in the process of tumorigenesis. Recently, many researchers make use of the miRNA microarray platform to profile miRNA expression in gastric cancer and correlated with different clinical parameters. Its application on cancer diagnosis, prognosis and predicting treatment response rate are still underway and needs further investigation. Emerging roles of miRNAs with oncogenic or tumor suppressive properties in gastric tumorigenesis were discussed. Epigenetic silencing of miRNA by hypermethylation of promoter CpG island was also observed in gastric cancer. However, detailed mechanisms of how miRNAs regulate gene expression in gastric cancer has not been well studied. In this review, we highlight the up-to-date findings on the deregulated miRNAs in gastric cancer, and the potential use of miRNA in the clinical settings, such as diagnostic/prognostic markers and chemotherapeutic tools.

MicroRNA-204-5p inhibits gastric cancer cell proliferation by downregulating USP47 and RAB22A

“…It has been demonstrated that aberrant miRNAs expression is associated with GC [6][7][8], and some miRNAs have been shown to be involved in stomach tumorigenesis by targeting tumor-associated genes [9][10][11][12]. In addition, miRNAs appear to be promising tumor biomarkers [13][14][15]. Our and others' expression profiling data uncovered that miR-204-5p (previously named as miR-204 before miRBase release 19.0) was one of the most significantly downregulated miRNAs in gastrointestinal tumor tissues compared with adjacent noncancerous tissues (NCTs) [9,11,16].…”

Using gastric juice lncRNA-ABHD11-AS1 as a novel type of biomarker in the screening of gastric cancer

“…However, general tumor markers, such as carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), are lack of specificity. When significant gastrointestinal symptoms appear, the disease has been progressed to the late stage and lost the best time of treatment [3]. Thus, it is of great importance to find appropriate tumor markers for early diagnosis of GC.…”

Expression Signature and Role of miR-30d-5p in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: a Comprehensive Study Based on in Silico Analysis of Public Databases and in Vitro Experiments

“…By repressing target genes, miRNAs play key roles in various biological events in tumors, such as cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and tumor invasion [14][15][16][17][18]. Therefore, miRNAs are implicated as promising diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for human cancers, including pancreatic cancer, bladder cancer, colorectal cancer and gastric cancer [13,[19][20][21].…”

“…More than 1000 miRNAs have been identified in humans and are predicted to modulate the expression of at least 60% of protein-coding genes at the transcriptional level [11][12][13]. By repressing target genes, miRNAs play key roles in various biological events in tumors, such as cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and tumor invasion [14][15][16][17][18].…”