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MicroRNAs involved in regulating epithelial–mesenchymal transition and cancer stem cells as molecular targets for cancer therapeutics

Cancer Gene Therapy volume 19, pages 723–730 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

One of the major challenges in cancer gene therapy is the identification of functionally relevant tumor-specific genes as the therapeutic targets. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small, 22–25 nucleotides, endogenously expressed noncoding RNA. miRNAs are important genetic regulators: one miRNA can possibly target multiple genes and they can function as tumor promoters (oncogenic miRNAs, oncomirs) or tumor suppressors (anti-oncomirs). Therefore, the identification of misregulated miRNAs in cellular signaling pathways related to oncogenesis can have profound implications for cancer therapy. The epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) converts epithelial cells into mesenchymal cells, a normal embryological process that frequently get activated during cancer invasion and metastasis. Recent evidence also supports the presence of a small subset of self-renewing, stem-like cells within the tumor mass that possess the capacity to seed new tumors and they have been termed ‘cancer stem cells (CSC)’. Conceivably, these CSCs could provide a resource for cells that cause therapy resistance. Although the cell origin of CSCs remains to be fully elucidated, a growing body of evidence has demonstrated that the biology of EMT and CSCs is tightly linked with the sequences and compositions of miRNA molecules. Therefore, targeting miRNAs involved in EMT and CSCs regulation can provide novel miRNA-based therapeutic strategies in oncology.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the SingHealth Foundation, National Medical Research Council, Biomedical Research Council of Singapore and The Singapore Millennium Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Cellular and Molecular Research, Bek Chai Heah Laboratory of Cancer Genomics, Humphrey Oei Institute of Cancer Research, National Cancer Centre, Singapore, Singapore

    H Xia & K M Hui

  2. Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Program, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore, Singapore

    K M Hui

  3. Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    K M Hui

  4. Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR, Biopolis Drive Proteos, Singapore, Singapore

    K M Hui

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  1. H Xia
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Correspondence to K M Hui.

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Xia, H., Hui, K. MicroRNAs involved in regulating epithelial–mesenchymal transition and cancer stem cells as molecular targets for cancer therapeutics. Cancer Gene Ther 19, 723–730 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/cgt.2012.58

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