title: MicroRNAs play a big role in regulating ovarian cancer-associated fibroblasts and the tumor microenvironment.
abstract: Mitra and colleagues analyzed microRNA expression profiles of fibroblasts isolated from ovarian cancer patients, searching for dysregulated microRNAs in the stromal compartment of human cancer. They found that decreased miR-31 and miR-214 and increased miR-155 expression can reprogram normal fibroblasts into tumor-promoting cancer-associated fibroblasts. They identified CCL5, a protumorigenic chemokine that is highly expressed in tumors, as a key target of miR-214, thus showing that microRNA perturbation in the stromal microenvironment can affect tumor growth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, and 2Biomedical Sciences Program, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143-0452, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: Zena
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Werb
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs