Abstract
Lung cancer is a well-known malignant tumor of the respiratory tract, which has caused a significant level of damage to human health in the 21st century. Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) are tiny, non-coding RNA stem-loop structures with a length of roughly 20–25 nucleotides that function as powerful modulators of mRNA and protein products of a gene. miRNAs may modulate many biological processes involving growth, differentiation, proliferation, and cell death and play a key role in the pathogenesis of various types of malignancies. Several accumulating pieces of evidence have proven that miRNA, especially miR-146a, are crucial modulators of innate immune response sequences. A novel and exciting cancer research field has involved miRNA for the detection and suppression of cancer. However, the actual mechanism which is adopted by these miRNA is still unclear. miRNAs have been used as a cancer-associated biomarker in several studies, suggesting their altered expression in various cancers compared to the normal cells. The amount of expression of miRNA can also be used to determine the stage of the disease, aiding in early detection. In breast, pancreatic, and hepatocellular carcinoma, and gastric cancer, cancer cell proliferation and metastasis has been suppressed by miR-146a. Changes in miR-146a expression levels have biomarker importance and possess a high potential as a therapeutic target in lung cancer. It retards epithelial-mesenchymal transition and promotes the therapeutic action of anticancer agents in lung cancer. Studies have also suggested that miR-146a affects gene expression through different signaling pathways viz. TNF-α, NF-κB and MEK-1/2, and JNK-1/2. Further research is required for understanding the molecular mechanisms of miR-146a in lung cancer. The potential role of miR-146a as a diagnostic marker of lung cancer must also be analyzed. This review summarizes the tumor-suppressing, anti-inflammatory, and antichemoresistive nature of miR-146a in lung cancer.
Highlights
The long pre-miRNAs are cleaved by microprocessors, which are a complex of dsRNase III enzyme (DROSHA) and a cofactor called double-stranded RNA binding protein vital region 8 (DGCR8) [22,23]
X et al observed that miR-134, miR-146a, miR-221, miR-222, and miR-23a was greatly deregulated in lung cancer and colorectal cancer sera when analyzed through Solexa sequencing and qRT-PCR [87]
Another similar study found that miR-125a-5p, miR-145, and miR-146a in serum were significantly overexpressed in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with miR-146a sensitivity and a respective specificity of 92.75% and 58.57% in discriminating NSCLC
Summary
Takamizawa et al first observed non-coding RNA dysregulation in lung cancer when he noticed a significantly reduced level of let-7 associated with the post-operative survival of lung cancer patients [6]. Lee was studying postembryonic developmental mechanisms in C. elegans [7] These are a group of small non-coding RNAs with an excellent function in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Since malignancy accounts for highly heterogenous diseases, analysis of miRNA expression can discriminate among subtypes of cancer [8,9,10,11] and has the potential to detect the unknown origin site of primary cancer [12]. MiR-146a was found to facilitate programmed cell death and discourage cell proliferation and cell migration in NSCLC cell lines that were the key hallmarks of cancer [19]. The present review will focus on the potential role of miR-146a as a tumor-suppressive, anti-inflammatory, diagnostic, and prognostic tool in lung cancer
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
