MicroRNAs and DNA-Damaging Drugs in Breast Cancer: Strength in Numbers
Abstract
MicroRNAs are a class of small non-coding regulatory RNAs playing key roles in cancer. Breast cancer is the most common female malignancy worldwide and is categorized into four molecular subtypes: luminal A and B, HER2+ and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Despite the development of multiple targeted therapies for luminal and HER2+ breast tumors, TNBC lacks specific therapeutic approaches, thus they are treated mainly with radio- and chemotherapy. The effectiveness of these therapeutic regimens is based on their ability to induce DNA damage, which is differentially resolved and repaired by normal vs. cancer cells. Recently, drugs directly targeting DNA repair mechanisms, such as PARP inhibitors, have emerged as attractive candidates for the future molecular targeted-therapy in breast cancer. These compounds prevent cancer cells to appropriate repair DNA double strand breaks and induce a phenomenon called synthetic lethality, that results from the concurrent inhibition of PARP and the absence of functional BRCA genes which prompt cell death. MicroRNAs are relevant players in most of the biological processes including DNA damage repair mechanisms. Consistently, the downregulation of DNA repair genes by miRNAs have been probe...Continue Reading
References
Citations
Methods Mentioned
Clinical Trials Mentioned
Related Concepts
Related Feeds
Breast Cancer Triple-N
Breast cancer cells have receptors for estrogen, progesterone, HER2 receptors (also called ERBB2). Triple-negative breast cancers do not have any of these receptors. Here are the latest discoveries pertaining to triple-negative breast cancers.