MicroRNAs in Colorectal Cancer Drug Resistance: Shooters become Targets

Abstract

Copyright: © 2013 Fanale D, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. MicroRNAs (MiRNAs) are involved in the regulation of several biological processes such as development, differentiation, metabolism, apoptosis and proliferation. Recently, it has been shown that deregulated expression of miRNAs are present in different human cancers, suggesting a potential role in carcinogenesis [1,2]. Recent evidence suggests that miRNAs may represent potential new therapeutic approaches in patients with drug resistance and drug induced toxicity [3]. MiRNAs may have therapeutic applications through two mechanisms. The first strategy involves the inhibition of oncogenic miRNAs by using miRNA antagonists (anti-miRNAs) resulting in up-regulation of genes that would be silenced by deregulated miRNAs. The second strategy involves the restoration in expression levels of tumor suppressor microRNA with miRNA mimics [1]. To date, several studies have shown that miRNA mimics and antimiRNAs may be useful to restore normal gene networks in different cancer cell lines and animal models, suggesting a new potential role in anti-cancer therapy.