Potential role of miRNAs and their inhibitors in glioma treatment

Abstract

Recent years have seen an intense period of research on the functions of miRNAs, recently discovered key regulators of gene expression that act through suppression of translation of target mRNAs. Several hundred miRNAs have been identified in humans, and these show characteristic expression patterns, depending on tissue type, cell type or environmental stimuli. Like other types of cancer, the brain tumor glioblastoma shows a distinct miRNA expression signature, and a number of recent studies have linked these miRNA alterations to key hallmarks of glioblastoma including proliferation, survival, invasion, angiogenesis and stem cell-like behavior. These studies have opened the door to the possibility of utilizing miRNAs or miRNA antagonists as therapeutic agents for the treatment of brain tumors.

Keywords::

• glioblastoma
• miRNA
• therapeutics

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors would like to thank the Esther L Dardinger Endowment for Neuro-oncology and Neurosciences, the Jeffrey Thomas Hayden Foundation, the Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation (NREF), and the NIH (RO1 CA136803) for their support. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.