Circulating and Intracellular miRNAs as Prognostic and Predictive Factors in HER2-Positive Early Breast Cancer Treated with Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy: A Review of the Literature.

Chrystel Isca,Federico Piacentini,Valentina Masciale,Claudia Piombino,Claudia Omarini,Monica Barbolini,Massimo Dominici,Federica Caggia,Angela Toss,Michela Maur,Ilenia Mastrolia,Luca Moscetti

doi:10.3390/cancers13194894

Chrystel Isca, Federico Piacentini + Show 10 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13194894

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Journal: Cancers	Publication Date: Sep 29, 2021
Citations: 6	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Modena and Reggio Emilia

Abstract

Simple SummaryBreast cancer is a leading cause of female cancer-related death worldwide. Anti-HER2-targeted therapies dramatically improved prognosis for HER2-positive breast cancer patients. Despite that, growing drug resistance due to the pressure of therapy is relatively frequent. For that reason, it is necessary to find biomarkers able to predict treatment sensitivity and survival outcomes. Increasing research has shown how miRNAs, secreted by tumor cells, are strongly involved in cancer development. In this review, we will discuss the recent evidence on the predictive and prognostic value of miRNAs involved in HER2-positive early breast cancer progression.MicroRNAs (miRNA) are small noncoding RNAs that can act as both oncogene and tumor suppressors. Deregulated miRNA expression has been detected in human cancers, including breast cancer (BC). Considering their important roles in tumorigenesis, miRNAs have been investigated as potential prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers. Neoadjuvant setting is an optimal model to investigate in vivo the mechanism of treatment resistance. In the management of human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2)-positive early BC, the anti-HER2-targeted therapies have drastically changed the survival outcomes. Despite this, growing drug resistance due to the pressure of therapy is relatively frequent. In the present review, we focused on the main miRNAs involved in HER2-positive BC tumorigenesis and discussed the recent evidence on their predictive and prognostic value.

Highlights

This review summarizes the main miRNAs involved in human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer (BC) tumorigenesis, focusing on their prognostic and predictive role
Emerging evidence highlights the key role in cell-to-cell communication and tumorigenesis of miRNAs
This issue is important in patients treated with targeted therapies, such as HER2-positive BC therapies

Summary

Introduction

Thanks to the advent of anti-HER2-targeted therapies, prognosis for HER2positive BC patients has dramatically improved [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12] Despite their objective activity, intrinsic and acquired resistance to anti-HER2 agents remains a major clinical challenge [13]. Growing evidence has indicated that microRNA (miRNA) profiling could be a promising biomarker for early diagnosis, treatment sensitivity/resistance, and prognosis in different cancer types, including BC [16,17,18]. The important involvement of EVs and miRNA in ontogenetic processes and their availability in biological fluids, make these molecules optimal biomarkers in oncology [20,22]. This review summarizes the main miRNAs involved in HER2-positive BC tumorigenesis, focusing on their prognostic and predictive role

Extracellular Vesicles and MicroRNAs

Predictive Biomarkers

Prognostic Biomarkers

Findings

Conclusions