Review
Copyright ©2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 7, 2014; 20(45): 17011-17019
Published online Dec 7, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i45.17011
MicroRNAs in colorectal cancer: Role in metastasis and clinical perspectives
Shan Muhammad, Kavanjit Kaur, Rui Huang, Qian Zhang, Paviter Kaur, Hamza Obaid Yazdani, Muhammad Umar Bilal, Jiang Zheng, Liu Zheng, Xi-Shan Wang
Shan Muhammad, Kavanjit Kaur, Rui Huang, Qian Zhang, Hamza Obaid Yazdani, Jiang Zheng, Liu Zheng, Xi-Shan Wang, Colorectal Cancer Department, the 2nd Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, 150001 Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China
Paviter Kaur, Muhammad Umar Bilal, Harbin Medical University, 150001 Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China
Author contributions: Muhammad S collected the data and wrote the manuscript; Huang R, Zhang Q, Yazdani HO, Bilal MU, Zheng J and Zheng L helped with data collection; Kaur K revised the manuscript and helped with data collection; Kaur P revised the manuscript; and Wang XS edited the manuscript.
Correspondence to: Xi-Shan Wang, Professor, Colorectal Cancer Department, the 2nd Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Xuefu Rd 246, 150001 Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China. nimbus14@hotmail.com
Telephone: +86-451-86297661 Fax: +86-451-86297661
Received: April 24, 2014
Revised: June 19, 2014
Accepted: July 29, 2014
Published online: December 7, 2014
Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common malignancy and the third leading cause of cancer related deaths in the United States. Almost 90% of the patients diagnosed with CRC die due to metastases. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are evolutionarily conserved molecules that modulate the expression of their target genes post-transcriptionally, and they may participate in various physiological and pathological processes including CRC metastasis by influencing various factors in the human body. Recently, the role miRNAs play throughout the CRC metastatic cascade has gain attention. Many studies have been published to link them with CRC metastasis. In this review, we will briefly discuss metastatic steps in the light of miRNAs, along with their target genes. We will discuss how the aberration in the expression of miRNAs leads to the formation of CRC by effecting the regulation of their target genes. As miRNAs are being exploited for diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of cancer and other diseases, their high tissue specificity and critical role in oncogenesis make them new biomarkers for the diagnosis and classification of cancer as well as for predicting patients’ outcome. MiRNA signatures have been identified for many human tumors including CRC, and miRNA-based therapies to treat cancer have been emphasized lately. These will also be discussed in this review.

Keywords: microRNAs, Colorectal Cancer, Metastasis, Biomarkers, Therapeutics

Core tip: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are evolutionarily conserved molecules that modulate expression of their target genes post-transcriptionally, and they may participate in various physiological and pathological processes including colorectal cancer (CRC) metastasis by influencing various factors in the human body. They have been associated with every step of the CRC metastatic cascade. More recently, miRNAs have been used as biomarkers for CRC early detection. MiRNA-based therapies are have been emphasized recently to treat various pathological conditions.