title: MicroRNAs in pancreatic malignancy: progress and promises.
abstract: Despite progress in recent years, pancreatic cancer still remains a major clinical challenge. Its incidence and mortality rates have been on consistent rise underscoring the critical need for novel diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic tools for its effective management. Recent studies have demonstrated that microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) are deregulated in a variety of malignancies, including pancreatic cancer, and play a significant role in the initiation, progression and metastasis. Furthermore, their vital involvement in the therapeutic resistance of cancer has also been established. Hence, there has been enormous interest worldwide in investigating the roles of miRNAs in pancreatic cancer pathogenesis and exploiting their utility for clinical benefit. In this review, we summarize current knowledge on the role of miRNAs in pancreatic cancer and discuss their potential use as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers, and as novel targets for development of effective therapeutic strategies.
authors.affiliation: Mitchell Cancer Institute, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Sanjeev K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Srivastava
authors.affiliation: Mitchell Cancer Institute, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Sumit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arora
authors.affiliation: Mitchell Cancer Institute, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Seema
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Mitchell Cancer Institute, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Arun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bhardwaj
authors.affiliation: Mitchell Cancer Institute, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Courey
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Averett
authors.affiliation: Mitchell Cancer Institute, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL, USA; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL, USA. Electronic address: asingh@health.southalabama.edu.
authors.forename: Ajay P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Diagnosis; Drug resistance; Metastasis; MicroRNAs; Pancreatic cancer; Prognosis and therapy