The Role of microRNAs in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains a very challenging malignancy. Disease is diagnosed in an advanced stage in the vast majority of patients, and PDAC cells are often resistant to conventional cytotoxic drugs. Targeted therapies have made no progress in the management of this disease, unlike other cancers. microRNAs (miRs) are small non-coding RNAs that regulate the expression of multitude number of genes by targeting their 3'-UTR mRNA region. Aberrant expression of miRNAs has been linked to the development of various malignancies, including PDAC. In PDAC, a series of miRs have been defined as holding promise for early diagnostics, as indicators of therapy resistance, and even as markers for therapeutic response in patients. In this mini-review, we present an update on the various different miRs that have been defined in PDAC biology.
Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA. diab.maria@gmail.com.
Maria
M
Diab
Department of Oncology, Karmanos Cancer institute, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA. irfana.muqbil@wayne.edu.
Irfana
I
Muqbil
Department of Oncology, Karmanos Cancer institute, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA. mohammar@karmanos.org.
Ramzi M
RM
Mohammad
Department of Oncology, Karmanos Cancer institute, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA. azmia@karmanos.org.
Asfar S
AS
Azmi
Department of Oncology, Karmanos Cancer institute, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA. philipp@karmanos.org.
Philip A
PA
Philip
biology; diagnosis; micro-RNA; pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; prognosis; therapy