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Review
. 2020 Apr 17;3(3):385-400.
doi: 10.20517/cdr.2019.110. eCollection 2020.

MicroRNA and liver cancer

Masaya Onishi  1 , Takahiro Ochiya  2 , Yasuhito Tanaka  1
Affiliations
Review

MicroRNA and liver cancer

Masaya Onishi et al. Cancer Drug Resist. .

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. HCC is characterized by a poor prognosis and an ever increasing number of scientific studies aim to find new diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic targets. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), small non-coding RNAs that regulate the gene expression in many processes, have been shown to play a crucial role in regulating hepatocellular carcinoma. miRNAs may act as oncogenic miRNAs and tumor suppressor miRNAs and regulate cancer cell proliferation, invasion, and metastasis by being differently upregulated or downregulated and targeting the genes related with carcinogenesis. miRNAs secreted from cancer cells are found circulating in the blood, presenting an opportunity for their use as disease-related biomarkers. Moreover, extracellular vesicle-derived miRNAs are known to reflect the cell of origin and function and may provide effective biomarkers for predicting diagnosis and prognosis and new therapeutic target in HCC. In this article, we describe the most recent findings regarding the molecular mechanisms and gene regulation of microRNA in HCC, as well as their application in diagnosis/prognosis and treatment.

Keywords: MicroRNA; diagnosis; extracellular vesicles; hepatocellular carcinoma.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declared that there are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Roles of oncomiRs and suppressor miRNAs in carcinogenesis pathways of HCC. Red: oncomiRs; blue: suppressor miRNAs. PTEN: phosphatase and tensin homolog; oncomiRs: oncogenic miRNAs; miRNAs: microRNAs; HCC: hepatocellular carcinoma; PI3K: phosphoinositide 3-kinase; MAPK: mitogen-activated protein kinases; MET: mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor; PAC4: proteasome assembly chaperone 4 ; ERK: extracellular regulated kinase; MDM: mouse double minute; BBC3: Bcl-2-binding component 3; GADD45: growth arrest and DNA-damage-inducible 45 alpha; S6K: ribosomal protein S6 kinase; DDIT4: DNA-damage-inducible transcript 4; mTOR: mechanistic target of rapamycin; SOX7: SRY-box 7; CCND1: Cyclin D1
Figure 2
Figure 2
Summary of miRNAs involved in the development and progression of HCC. HCC: hepatocellular carcinoma
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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