MicroRNA Signature in Renal Cell Carcinoma

Soudeh Ghafouri-Fard; Zeinab Shirvani-Farsani; Wojciech Branicki; Mohammad Taheri

doi:10.3389/fonc.2020.596359

MicroRNA Signature in Renal Cell Carcinoma

Front Oncol. 2020 Nov 30:10:596359. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2020.596359. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Soudeh Ghafouri-Fard¹, Zeinab Shirvani-Farsani², Wojciech Branicki³, Mohammad Taheri⁴

Affiliations

¹ Urology and Nephrology Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
² Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences and Technology, Shahid Beheshti University G.C., Tehran, Iran.
³ Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology of the Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland.
⁴ Urogenital Stem Cell Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) includes 2.2% of all diagnosed cancers and 1.8% of cancer-related mortalities. The available biomarkers or screening methods for RCC suffer from lack of sensitivity or high cost, necessitating identification of novel biomarkers that facilitate early diagnosis of this cancer especially in the susceptible individuals. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have several advantageous properties that potentiate them as biomarkers for cancer detection. Expression profile of miRNAs has been assessed in biological samples from RCC patients. Circulatory or urinary levels of certain miRNAs have been proposed as markers for RCC diagnosis or follow-up. Moreover, expression profile of some miRNAs has been correlated with response to chemotherapy, immunotherapy or targeted therapeutic options such as sunitinib. In the current study, we summarize the results of studies that assessed the application of miRNAs as biomarkers, therapeutic targets or modulators of response to treatment modalities in RCC patients.

Keywords: biomarker; cancer; expression; miRNA; renal cell carcinoma.

Publication types

Review