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©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Apr 27, 2019; 11(4): 344-358
Published online Apr 27, 2019. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v11.i4.344
Published online Apr 27, 2019. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v11.i4.344
MicroRNAs contribute to ATP-binding cassette transporter- and autophagy-mediated chemoresistance in hepatocellular carcinoma
María V Espelt, María L Bacigalupo, Pablo Carabias, María F Troncoso, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Instituto de Química y Fisicoquímica Biológicas, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires C1113AAD, Argentina
Author contributions: Espelt MV contributed to literature search, manuscript drafting, table composing and final revision of the article; Bacigalupo ML contributed to manuscript drafting, table composing and final revision of the article; Carabias P contributed to final revision of the article; Troncoso MF contributed to the study idea and design, manuscript drafting, table composing and final revision of the article.
Supported by: Agencia Nacional de Promoció n Cientí fica y Tecnoló gica-Fondo para la Investigació n Cientí fica y Tecnoló gica , No. PICT-2014-3216 (to Espelt MV); CONICET , No. PIP-647; UBA , No. Programació n Cientí fica 2016-2019 , No. 20020150100005BA; and ANPCyT-FONCYT , No. PICT-2016-1139 (all to Troncoso MF) .
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest related to this publication.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: María Fernanda Troncoso, PhD, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Instituto de Química y Fisicoquímica Biológicas, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Junín 956, Buenos Aires C1113AAD, Argentina. fernanda@qb.ffyb.uba.ar
Telephone: +54-11-52874122
Received: November 28, 2018
Peer-review started: November 28, 2018
First decision: January 23, 2019
Revised: February 21, 2019
Accepted: March 24, 2019
Article in press: March 25, 2019
Published online: April 27, 2019
Peer-review started: November 28, 2018
First decision: January 23, 2019
Revised: February 21, 2019
Accepted: March 24, 2019
Article in press: March 25, 2019
Published online: April 27, 2019
Core Tip
Core tip: The main obstacle during treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is resistance to chemotherapy. We analyzed microRNAs (miRNAs) impact on HCC chemoresistance. Certain miRNAs target ABC transporter genes. As most of these miRNAs are downregulated in HCC, transporter levels increase and intracellular drug accumulation decrease, turning cells less sensitive to death. Others miRNAs target autophagy-related gene expression, inhibiting autophagy and acting as tumor suppressors. Nevertheless, due to its downregulation in HCC, these miRNAs do not inhibit autophagy or tumor growth and, resistance is favored. ABC transporter and/or autophagy-related gene expression modulated by miRNAs affect HCC cell survival under chemotherapy.