The significance of microRNA deregulation in colorectal cancer development and the clinical uses as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker and therapeutic agent

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most widely recognized and deadly malignancies worldwide. Although death rates have declined over the previous decade, mainly because of enhanced screening or potential treatment alternatives, CRC remains the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality globally , with an estimated incidence of over 1 million new cases and approximately 600 000 deaths estimated yearly. Therefore, many scientific efforts are put into the development of new diagnostic biomarkers for CRC. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), one of the epigenetics categories , have demonstrated significant roles in carcinogenesis and progression through regulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), oncogenic signaling pathways, and metastasis. Dysregulation of miRNAs expression has been reported in many cancers, including CRC. The expression profile of miRNAs is reproducibly altered in CRC, and their expression patterns are associated with diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic outcomes in CRC. Recently, many studies were conducted on the dysregulation of miRNAs as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in CRC. Among them, some miRNAs, which include miR-21, miR-34 family, miR-155, miR-224, and miR-378, have been more studied in CRC with more prominent roles in diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy. In the present review, we summarized the latest information regarding the dysregulated miRNAs in CRC and the advantages of using miRNAs as a biomarker for CRC diagnosis, treatment, and their function in different signaling pathways involved in CRC progression. Moreover, we described the translation of miRNA research to potential therapeutic applications in the management of CRC in clinical settings.

A Crosstalk between Diet, Microbiome and microRNA in Epigenetic Regulation of Colorectal Cancer

“…It was shown that Fusobacterium nucleatum -mediated infection induces TLR4/MyDD88, activates NF-κB which binds to miR-21 promoter and increases its transcription [ 51 ]. Oncogenic roles of miR-21 are related to tumor progression, proliferation, EMT, metastasis, invasion, inhibition of apoptosis and induction of stemness [ 179 ]. Moreover, other studies showed KRAS mutations were more frequent in F. nucleatum -infected CRC which is associated with overexpression of miR-21 as well [ 180 ].…”

Rictor Activates Cav 1 Through the Akt Signaling Pathway to Inhibit the Apoptosis of Gastric Cancer Cells

“…In recent years, with the continued advancements in molecular biology, signaling pathways and targeted therapy have gradually become the focus of GC research, and are expected to provide more effective means for the treatment of GC (4). The most recent advancements in GC research are in the area of noncoding nucleic acids such as long-non-coding RNAs and miRNAs (5)(6)(7)(8)(9).…”

microRNA Prognostic Signature for Postoperative Success of Metastatic Orthopedic Cancers: Implications for Precision Microsurgery

“…Epigenetic changes, particularly dysregulated expression levels of miRNAs, can be of prognostic importance (Ahadi, 2020;Chen et al, 2020;Lv et al, 2020) and, therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate such potential of miRNAs, especially with regards to the success of surgery of metastatic bone cancers. Expression of select miRNAs was first analyzed in the bone metastasis of 44 patients with bone metastasis, relative to the adjacent bone material and then I applied this information to evaluate the impact of surgery on outcome of patients by diving the patients into a high risk vs. low risk group based on the miRNA signature.…”