Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2024 Dec 28;13(1):47.
doi: 10.3390/biomedicines13010047.

Diagnostic and Therapeutic Advances of RNAs in Precision Medicine of Gastrointestinal Tumors

Runhan Liu  1   2   3 , Jiaxin Zhou  4   5 , Xiaochen Chen  4 , Jie Zhang  4   5 , Qunzhi Chen  4 , Xiaoming Liu  1   2 , Kunhou Yao  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Diagnostic and Therapeutic Advances of RNAs in Precision Medicine of Gastrointestinal Tumors

Runhan Liu et al. Biomedicines. .

Abstract

Gastrointestinal tumors present a significant challenge for precision medicine due to their complexity, necessitating the development of more specific diagnostic tools and therapeutic agents. Recent advances have positioned coding and non-coding RNAs as emerging biomarkers for these malignancies, detectable by liquid biopsies, and as innovative therapeutic agents. Many RNA-based therapeutics, such as small interfering RNA (siRNA) and antisense oligonucleotides (ASO), have entered clinical trials or are available on the market. This review provides a narrative examination of the diagnostic and therapeutic potential of RNA in gastrointestinal cancers, with an emphasis on its application in precision medicine. This review discusses the current challenges, such as drug resistance and tumor metastasis, and highlights how RNA molecules can be leveraged for targeted detection and treatment. Additionally, this review categorizes specific diagnostic biomarkers and RNA therapeutic targets based on tissue type, offering a comprehensive analysis of their role in advancing precision medicine for gastrointestinal tumors.

Keywords: RNA; diagnosis; drug resistance; gastrointestinal tumors; precision medicine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The author declares no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic of RNA diagnosis and therapy. The screening of RNA biomarkers and RNA-based drugs for gastrointestinal cancers can focus on different stages of gene expression. This involves extracting RNA from samples and determining the disease status using specific techniques, such as RNA sequencing, microarray analysis, qPCR, dPCR, and subsequent data analysis. After entering the cell, it binds to the target RNA, promotes mRNA degradation or prevents its translation, thereby inhibiting the expression of harmful genes and achieving a therapeutic effect. Created using BioRender.com. Accessed in September 2024.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mechanisms of representative lncRNA biomarker ZEB-AS1 in CRC. lncRNA ZEB1-AS1 recruits H3K4 methyltransferase MLL1 to the ZEB1 promoter and induces H3K4me3 modification in this region, promoting ZEB1 transcription. ZEB1 promotes EMT (epithelial-mesenchymal transition) and accelerates tumor migration and invasion by regulating downstream molecules such as miR200c and miR203. In addition, lncRNA ZEB1-AS1 can activate the mTOR pathway, promote Cyclin D1 expression, and promote G1 cells to enter the S phase. The upregulation of Cyclin D1 enhances its binding activity with CDK4/CDK6, further accelerating the cell cycle and promoting tumor cell proliferation. Created using BioRender.com, accessed on 1 December 2024. Adapted with permission from Refs. [77,78].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Koustas E., Trifylli E.-M., Sarantis P., Papadopoulos N., Karapedi E., Aloizos G., Damaskos C., Garmpis N., Garmpi A., Papavassiliou K.A., et al. Immunotherapy as a Therapeutic Strategy for Gastrointestinal Cancer—Current Treatment Options and Future Perspectives. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022;23:6664. doi: 10.3390/ijms23126664. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bijlsma M.F., Sadanandam A., Tan P., Vermeulen L. Molecular subtypes in cancers of the gastrointestinal tract. Nat. Rev. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 2017;14:333–342. doi: 10.1038/nrgastro.2017.33. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Jana D., Zhao Y. Strategies for enhancing cancer chemodynamic therapy performance. Exploration. 2022;2:20210238. doi: 10.1002/EXP.20210238. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Manzari M.T., Shamay Y., Kiguchi H., Rosen N., Scaltriti M., Heller D.A. Targeted drug delivery strategies for precision medicines. Nat. Rev. Mater. 2021;6:351–370. doi: 10.1038/s41578-020-00269-6. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Xing S., Zhu Y., You Y., Wang S., Wang H., Ning M., Jin H., Liu Z., Zhang X., Yu C., et al. Cell-free RNA for the liquid biopsy of gastrointestinal cancer. WIREs RNA. 2023;14:e1791. doi: 10.1002/wrna.1791. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources