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MicroRNAs and cancer stem cells: the sword and the shield

Oncogene volume 33, pages 4967–4977 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Emerging chemotherapy drugs and targeted therapies have been widely applied in anticancer treatment and have given oncologists a promising future. Nevertheless, regeneration and recurrence are still huge obstacles on the way to cure cancer. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are capable of self-renewal, tumor initiation, recurrence, metastasis, therapy resistance, and reside as a subset in many, if not all, cancers. Therefore, therapeutics specifically targeting and killing CSCs are being identified, and may be promising and effective strategies to eliminate cancer. MicroRNAs (miRNAs, miRs), small noncoding RNAs regulating gene expression in a post-transcriptional manner, are dysregulated in most malignancies and are identified as important regulators of CSCs. However, limited knowledge exists for biological and molecular mechanism by which miRNAs regulate CSCs. In this article, we review CSCs, miRNAs and the interactions between miRNA regulation and CSCs, with a specific focus on the molecular mechanisms and clinical applications. This review will help us to know in detail how CSCs are regulated by miRNAs networks and also help to develop more effective and secure miRNA-based clinical therapies.

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Acknowledgements

This study is supported in part by NIH grants R01CA70896, R01CA75503, R01CA86072, R01CA137494 and R01CA132115 and National Natural Science Foundation of China 81272418. We are grateful to Elsa R Flores, Ph.D. (Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Division of Basic Science Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center) for her helpful advice and suggestions.

Author information

Author notes

  1. H Ren and R G Pestell: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oncology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, China

    X Sun, S Qin & H Ren

  2. Departments of Cancer Biology, Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    X Sun, X Jiao, E Mirabelli & R G Pestell

  3. Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    T G Pestell

  4. Cardiovascular Department of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China

    C Fan

  5. New York University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    S Qin

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  3. T G Pestell
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  4. C Fan
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  5. S Qin
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  6. E Mirabelli
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  7. H Ren
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  8. R G Pestell
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to H Ren or R G Pestell.

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Supplementary Information accompanies this paper on the Oncogene website

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Sun, X., Jiao, X., Pestell, T. et al. MicroRNAs and cancer stem cells: the sword and the shield. Oncogene 33, 4967–4977 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2013.492

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2013.492

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