microRNA-Based Anticancer Therapies

Despite advances in diagnosis and therapies, cancer is still the leading cause of death worldwide. The etiology of cancer is complex, and both genetic and environmental factors contribute to the complicated scenario. More recently, a new class of small non-coding RNAs called microRNAs (miRs or miRNAs) has been linked to several human diseases, including cancer. MicroRNAs are involved in eukaryotic gene regulation, either by translational inhibition or exonucleolytic mRNA decay, targeted through imperfect complementarity between the microRNA and the 3′_ untranslated region (3′_UTR) of the mRNA. Since their ability to potentially target many of human mRNA, it is likely that microRNAs are involved in almost every biological process, including cell cycle regulation, cell growth, apoptosis, cell differentiation and stress response. In cancer, miRNAs function as regulatory molecules, acting as oncogenes or tumor suppressors. The possibility to modulate microRNA expression both in vitro and in vivo by developing synthetic pre-microRNA molecules or anti-microRNA antisense oligodeoxyribonucleotide (AMO) has suggested the intriguing and promising perspective of a possible use in therapeutic strategies.