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Review
. 2019 Dec 24:12:11393-11411.
doi: 10.2147/OTT.S221354. eCollection 2019.

Research Progress in microRNA-Based Therapy for Gastric Cancer

Xu Zhao #  1 , Gao-Feng Hu #  2   3 , Yan-Fen Shi  4 , Wei Xu  3
Affiliations
Review

Research Progress in microRNA-Based Therapy for Gastric Cancer

Xu Zhao et al. Onco Targets Ther. .

Abstract

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the leading causes of tumor-related mortality. In addition to surgery and endoscopic resection, systemic therapy remains the main treatment option for GC, especially for advanced-stage disease and for cases not suitable for surgical therapy. Hence, improving the efficacy of systemic therapy is still an urgent problem to overcome. In the past decade, the essential roles of microRNAs (miRNAs) in tumor treatment have been increasingly recognized. In particular, miRNAs were recently shown to reverse the resistance to chemotherapy drugs such as 5-fluorouracil, cisplatin, and doxorubicin. Synthesized nanoparticles loaded with mimics or inhibitors of miRNAs can directly target tumor cells to suppress their growth. Moreover, exosomes may serve as promising safe carriers for mimics or inhibitors of miRNAs to treat GC. Some miRNAs have also been shown to play roles in the mechanism of action of other anti-tumor drugs. Therefore, in this review, we highlight the research progress on microRNA-based therapy in GC and discuss the challenges and prospects associated with this strategy. We believe that microRNA-based therapy has the potential to offer a clinical benefit to GC patients, and this review would contribute to and motivate further research to promote this field toward this ultimate goal.

Keywords: drug resistance; nanoparticles; therapeutics; treatment mechanism.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic diagram showing the proposed relationship between chemotherapy drugs and relevant miRNAs based on the results of studies of single-drug resistance and MDR. Increased miRNAs (red lines connected) and reduced miRNAs (blue lines connected) could enhance chemosensitivity. Abbreviations: DDP, cisplatin; 5-FU, 5-fluorouracil; VCR, vincristine; DOX (ADR), doxorubicin (adriamycin); PTX, paclitaxel; OXA, oxaliplatin; L-OHP, oxaliplatin; VP-16, etoposide; MMC, mitomycin.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic diagram showing the relationship between target genes and miRNAs related to drug resistance.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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