The Influence of miRNAs on Radiotherapy Treatment in Prostate Cancer - A Systematic Review.

Sílvia Soares,Rúben Fernandes,Maria Goreti Sales,Isabel Faria,Miguel A Correa-Duarte,Susana G Guerreiro,Pilar Baylina,Natália Cruz-Martins

doi:10.3389/fonc.2021.704664

Abstract

In the last years, extensive investigation on miRNomics have shown to have great advantages in cancer personalized medicine regarding diagnosis, treatment and even clinical outcomes. Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common male cancer and about 50% of all PCa patients received radiotherapy (RT), despite some of them develop radioresistance. Here, we aim to provide an overview on the mechanisms of miRNA biogenesis and to discuss the functional impact of miRNAs on PCa under radiation response. As main findings, 23 miRNAs were already identified as being involved in genetic regulation of PCa cell response to RT. The mechanisms of radioresistance are still poorly understood, despite it has been suggested that miRNAs play an important role in cell signaling pathways. Identification of miRNAs panel can be thus considered an upcoming and potentially useful strategy in PCa diagnosis, given that radioresistance biomarkers, in both prognosis and therapy still remains a challenge.

Highlights

Small non-protein-coding RNA molecules, composed of around 22 nucleotides, are commonly named as miRNAs [1,2,3]
The miRNAs biogenesis includes their transcription at cell nucleus, export to the cytoplasm and subsequent processing and maturation [20], with two processes being involved in achieving the mature miRNA: canonical or non-canonical biogenesis of miRNA (Figure 2)
The premiRNA is processed by RNA polymerase III (Drosha protein) and DiGeorge syndrome critical region gene 8 (DGCR8) protein, producing the pre-miRNA, a double-stranded miRNA of variable length with approximately 18-25 nucleotides [4, 5, 19, 21, 22]

Summary

Introduction

Small non-protein-coding RNA molecules, composed of around 22 nucleotides, are commonly named as miRNAs [1,2,3]. Various regulatory factors and genes have shown to be able to directly modulate cell cycle, differentiation and even death. Tumor-suppressor genes or oncogenes or both are regulatory factors able to modulate the environmental conditions contributing to cancer development [2, 4, 18]. In this way, miRNAs may be viewed as promising biomarkers capable of predicting radiation response and to develop a customized treatment for each patient, opening a new therapeutic window for personalized intervention in PCa patients

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