Chemotherapy, as an adjuvant therapy, utilizes drugs to treat cancer, and resistance to therapeutic drugs limits the efficacy of chemotherapy treatments. Several mechanisms have been proposed to improve the effect of tumor chemotherapy in order to overcome drug resistance. Among these, autophagy mediated by microRNAs (miRNAs) is one of the primary mechanisms. A large number of molecules targeted by miRNAs are involved in each step of the autophagic pathway. Recent advancement in chemotherapy research has revealed that miRNAs involved in the autophagy process target some of these molecules, thereby influencing the therapeutic effect of chemotherapy drugs. Thus, miRNAs appear to be potential tools or targets with which to suppress tumor growth and should be studied in further details for their clinical application against drug resistance.
Keywords: cancer; autophagy; miRNA; chemotherapy resistance.