Table 4 Representative circulating miRNAs reported to predict response to chemotherapy and/or surgery
Cancer type | miRNA dysregulation associated with poor response | Sample type | Significance | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Breast | ↑ miR-125b | Serum | Increased in patiens not responding to neoadjuvant chemotherapy | [91] |
Breast | ↑ miR-210 | Plasma | Lower miR-210 plasma levels are associated with | [92] |
- complete response to trastuzumab (HER-2 targeted monoclonal antibody) | ||||
- surgical removal of tumor | ||||
- lack of tumor metastasis to lymph nodes | ||||
Colorectal (CRC) | ↑ miR17-3p | Plasma | - Elevated in both CRC tissue and plasma | [93] |
- Lower level detected in post-operative plasma is associated with responsiveness to surgery | ||||
Colorectal (CRC) | ↑ miR-29a | Serum | - Elevated in both CRC tissue and plasma | [93] |
- Help differentiate CRC from gastric cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and no tumor controls | ||||
- Lower level detected in post-operative plasma is associated with responsiveness to surgery | ||||
Colorectal (CRC) | ↑ miR-27b, miR-148a, miR-326 | Plasma | Elevated in patients with metastatic CRC not responding to 5-fluouracil and oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy | [94] |
Lung | ↑ miR-21 | Plasma | Increased; associated with resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy | [95] |
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) | ↓ miR-92a | Plasma | - Remarkably lower in NHL patients (< 5%) than in healthy subjects | [96] |
- The very low plasma level of miR-92a increased in complete response phase but became lower again in the relapse phase | ||||
Prostate | ↑ Prostate cancer secretary (PCS)-miRNAs | Plasma/serum | - It is not clear whether circulating miRNAs are actively released by live cancer cells or derived from dead cancer cells. | [97] |
- In vitro cytotoxic treatment of DU-145 cells enhanced the release of exosomes-associated PCS-miRNAs, with the exception of miR-485-3p, which is retained by surviving cancer cells. | ||||
- The intracellular retention of miR-485-3p was shown to downregulate the transcriptional repressor NF-Y, thus allowing the overexpression of a few drug resistance genes (including TOP2A, MDR1, and cyclin B2 pro-survival genes) | ||||
Prostate | ↑ miR-21 | Serum | - Increased in hormone-refractory prostate cancer | [98] |
- Associated with resistance to docetaxel-based chemotherapy | ||||
Advanced renal cell carcinoma | ↑ miR-192 | Peripheral blood samples | - Models predicting poor and prolonged response to sunitinib were constructed | [99] |
↑ miR-193a-3p | ||||
- Ontology analyses revealed relevance to cancer-related pathways (angiogenesis and apoptosis) | ||||
| Â | Â | Â | - miRNA expression signatures may be used to identify patients who may benefit the most from 1st line therapy with sunitinib | Â |