MicroRNAs (miRNAs), which are a type of short non-coding RNA, are involved in number of processes, such as differentiation, development, inflammation, immune response, and cancer. miRNAs, which act as oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes, can control and regulate the translation and stability of target messenger RNA, contributing to cancer pathogenesis. Despite the progress that has been made in discovering the mechanisms of how miRNAs function in tumors, many questions and aspects of miRNA biology and processing still remain to be determined. This Special Issue, titled “MicroRNA in Solid Tumor and Hematological Diseases”, provides a panorama of the existing knowledge gaps and potential uses of microRNAs to predict clinical outcome or response to therapies and provides evidence to explain their role as biomarkers to modulate the biological pathways that are critical for cancer development and progression. It includes eleven peer-reviewed papers that cover the role of microRNAs in different tumor types and their potential applications in diagnosis and clinical approaches.
Short non-coding RNA molecules, microRNAs (miRNAs), post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression in living cells. In recent years, miRNAs have been found in a wide spectrum of mammalian body fluids including blood plasma, saliva, urine, milk, seminal plasma, tears and amniotic fluid as extracellular circulating nuclease-resistant entities. The changes in miRNA spectra observed in certain fluids correlated with various pathological conditions suggesting that extracellular miRNAs can serve as informative biomarkers for certain diseases including cancer. However, the mechanism of generation and a biological role of extracellular miRNAs remain unclear. The current theories regarding extracellular miRNA origin and function suggest that these miRNAs can be either non-specific ‘by-products’ of cellular activity and cell death or specifically released cell-cell signaling messengers. The goal of this Research Topic is to bring together up-to-date knowledge about the extracellular miRNA and its role in disease diagnostics and, possibly, inter-cellular communication.
MicroRNA (miRNA) biology is a cutting-edge topic in basic as well as biomedical research. This is a specialized book focusing on the current understanding of the role of miRNAs in the development, progression, invasion, and metastasis of diverse types of cancer. It also reviews their potential for applications in cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and th
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) constitute a large family of small, approximately 20-22-nucleotide, non-coding RNAs that are involved in gene regulation, mainly at the post-transcriptional level. Multiple lines of evidence have indicated that miRNAs play important roles in the maintenance of biological homeostasis and that aberrant expression levels of miRNAs are involved in the onset of many diseases, including cancer. In various types of cancer, miRNAs play important roles in tumor initiation and development. Recently, miRNAs have been demonstrated to also be secreted via small endosome-derived vesicles called exosomes-which are derived from multiple cell types-including immunocytes and cancer cells. Exosomal miRNAs exert important functions in cell-to-cell communication and have been investigated as prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers. This Special Issue of the Journal of Clinical Medicine will cover the following important aspects of miRNA functions in cancer biology: Biosynthesis of miRNA and its roles in gene regulation; Roles of miRNA in cancer biology, including 1) Roles of miRNA in tumor initiation and development, 2) Roles of miRNA in drug resistance, 3) Roles of miRNA in metastasis; Therapeutic potential of miRNAs for cancer therapy; Roles of circulating miRNAs in cancer development; Expression levels/profiles of body fluid miRNAs for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic responses; Novel and efficient miRNA delivery methods and their applications in cancer therapy.
This book highlights the importance of understanding gastric and colon cancer metabolism in guiding diagnosis and drug discovery. It summarizes the correlation between adiponectin and matrix metalloproteinase with colorectal cancer. The book also evaluates the divergent role of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 in colorectal cancer growth and metastasis. After discussing the role of genetic polymorphisms in alcohol metabolizing enzymes and EPHX1 with the onset of colorectal cancer, it reviews the molecular mechanisms of chemoresistance in gastric cancer and novel therapeutic strategies to reverse the chemoresistance of tumors. In addition, the book explores the theranostic role of nanoparticles and therapeutic potential of phytochemicals with regard to colorectal cancer. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable guide for oncologists, academic researchers, pharmaceuticals practitioners, and students who are involved in research and treatment of cancer.
This volume discusses the latest advancements and technologies used in cancer drug resistance research. Cancer Drug Resistance: Overviews and Methods contains chapters that cover topics such as: studying the mechanics of resistance to DNA damaging therapeutic drugs; studies to delineate the role of efflux transporters; expression of drug transporters; resistance to targeted therapies in breast cancer; the role of microRNAs in current pancreatic cancer treatment; and cancer exosomes as mediators of drug resistance or clinical and molecular methods in drug development and the use of bioinformatics in the management of cancer drug resistance data. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include overviews of the main issues in cancer drug resistance and the respective mechanisms, as well as introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Cancer Drug Resistance: Overviews and Methods, is a valuable resource to researchers, oncobiologists and clinical oncologists or anyone else who is interested in the study of cancer and its drug resistances.
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in most countries and its consequences result in huge economic, social and psychological burden. Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer type and the leading cause of cancer death among females. In this book, we discussed gene expression and DNA abnormalities including methylation in breast cancer. A recent important topic, roles of miRNAs and their potential use in cancer therapy have been discussed in this cancer type as well. Bioinformatics is very important part of recent human genome developments and data mining and thus this topic has also been added for the readers. It is hoped that this book will contribute to development of novel diagnostic as well as therapeutic approaches, which lead to cure of breast cancer.
MicroRNA Protocols provides diverse, novel, and useful descriptions of miRNAs in several species, including plants, worms, flies, fish, chicks, mice, and humans. These include some useful adaptations and applications that could be relevant to the wider research community who are already familiar with the identification of miRNAs. This volume will stimulate the reader to explore diverse ways to understanding the mechanism in which miRNAs facilitate the molecular aspects of the biomedical research.
The discovery of microRNA (miRNA) involvement in cancer a decade ago, and the more recent findings of long non-coding RNAs in human diseases, challenged the long-standing view that RNAs without protein-coding potential are simply “junk” transcription within the human genome. These findings evidently changed the dogma that “DNA makes RNA makes protein” by showing that RNAs themselves can be essential regulators of cellular function and play key roles in cancer development. MiRNAs are evolutionarily conserved short single-stranded transcripts of 19–24 nucleotides in length. They do not code for proteins, but change the final output of protein-coding genes by regulating their transcriptional and/or translation process. Ultraconserved genes (UCGs) are non-coding RNAs with longer length (>200bp) that are transcribed from the ultraconserved genomic region. Both miRNAs and UCGs are located within cancer-associated genomic regions (CAGRs) and can act as tumor suppressors or oncogenes. In this chapter, we present principles and concepts that have been identified over the last decade with respect to our understanding of the function of non-coding RNAs, and summarize recent findings on the role of miRNAs and UCGs in cancer development. Finally, we will conclude by discussing the translational potential of this knowledge into clinical settings such as cancer diagnosis, prognosis and treatment.