title: Role of microRNAs in maintaining cancer stem cells.
abstract: Increasing evidence sustains that the establishment and maintenance of many, if not all, human cancers are due to cancer stem cells (CSCs), tumor cells with stem cell properties, such as the capacity to self-renew or generate progenitor and differentiated cells. CSCs seem to play a major role in tumor metastasis and drug resistance, but albeit the potential clinical importance, their regulation at the molecular level is not clear. Recent studies have highlighted several miRNAs to be differentially expressed in normal and cancer stem cells and established their role in targeting genes and pathways supporting cancer stemness properties. This review focuses on the last advances on the role of microRNAs in the regulation of stem cell properties and cancer stem cells in different tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA; Transcriptional Networks in Lung Cancer Group, Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, University of Manchester, Wilmslow Road, Manchester M20 4BX, UK. Electronic address: michela.garofalo@cruk.manchester.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Garofalo
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA. Electronic address: Carlo.Croce@osumc.edu.
authors.forename: Carlo M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Croce
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Cancer; Cancer stem cells; EMT; Embryonic stem cells (ESCs); MicroRNAs