MicroRNAs in Colorectal Cancer
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2011 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Colorectal cancer (CRC) represents one of the most frequent causes of death for cancer. CRC has been recently defined as the third most common cancer. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small interfering RNAs frequently involved in the pathogenesis of cancer. Polymorphisms within miRNAs binding regions have been described as new risk factors for CRC. Several genome-wide profiling studies have identified miRNAs deregulated in CRC tissue. A number of experimental studies on these miRNAs revealed insight into miRNA-mediated regulatory links to well-known oncogenic and tumor suppressor signaling pathways. Several investigations have also described the ability of specific miRNA expression profiles to predict prognosis and therapy response in CRC patients. In this chapter, we focus on the most significant findings of original studies on miRNAs involvemenet in CRC pathogenesis, focusing also on the potential of cancer-related miRNAs as biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, prediction, and therapeutical targets. |