The Role of MicroRNAs in the Metastatic Process of High-Risk HPV-Induced Cancers

Abstract

High-risk human papillomavirus (HPV)-driven cancers represent a major health concern worldwide. Despite the constant effort to develop and promote vaccination against HPVs, there is still a high percentage of non-vaccinated population. Furthermore, secondary prevention programs are not ubiquitous worldwide and not widely followed. Metastatic disease is the cause of the great majority of cancer-associated deaths, making it essential to determine its underlying mechanisms and to identify actionable anti-metastatic targets. Within certain types of cancer (e.g., head and neck), HPV-positive tumors show different dissemination patterns when compared with their HPV-negative counterparts, implicating HPV-related factors in the metastatic process. Among the many groups of biomolecules dysregulated by HPV, microRNAs have recently emerged as key regulators of carcinogenesis, able to control complex processes like cancer metastization. In this review, we present recent data on the role of microRNAs in the metastization of HPV-related cancers and on their possible clinical relevance as biomarkers of metastatic disease and/or as therapeutic targets.

Keywords: anogenital cancer; cervical cancer; head and neck cancer; high-risk HPV; invasion; metastization; microRNAs; migration.

Figure 1

MiRNAs dysregulation in the different metastatic steps of HPV-related cancers. (CTC—circulating tumor cell; DTC—disseminated tumor cell; squares in black refer to cervical cancer, in red to head and neck cancer and in purple to other HPV-related cancers).