Current and New Challenges in the Management of Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors: The Role of miRNA-Based Approaches as New Reliable Biomarkers

Havasi, Andrei; Sur, Daniel; Cainap, Simona Sorana; Lungulescu, Cristian-Virgil; Gavrilas, Laura-Ioana; Cainap, Calin; Vlad, Catalin; Balacescu, Ovidiu

doi:10.3390/ijms23031109

Open AccessReview

Current and New Challenges in the Management of Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors: The Role of miRNA-Based Approaches as New Reliable Biomarkers

by

Andrei Havasi

^1,2,3,†

,

Daniel Sur

^1,2,*,†

,

Simona Sorana Cainap

^4,†,

Cristian-Virgil Lungulescu

^5,†,

Laura-Ioana Gavrilas

⁶

,

Calin Cainap

^1,2

,

Catalin Vlad

^7,8,‡ and

Ovidiu Balacescu

^2,9,‡

¹

Department of Medical Oncology, The Oncology Institute “Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuta”, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania

²

11th Department of Medical Oncology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Iuliu Hatieganu”, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania

³

MedEuropa Radiotherapy Center, 410191 Oradea, Romania

⁴

Department of Mother and Child, Pediatric Cardiology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Iuliu Hatieganu”, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania

⁵

Department of Medical Oncology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Craiova, 200349 Craiova, Romania

⁶

Department of Bromatology, Hygiene, Nutrition, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Iuliu Hatieganu”, 23 Marinescu Street, 400337 Cluj-Napoca, Romania

⁷

Department of Surgery, The Oncology Institute “Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuta”, 34–36, Republicii Street, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania

⁸

Department of Oncology, “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 8, Victor Babes Street, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania

⁹

Department of Genetics, Genomics and Experimental Pathology, The Oncology Institute “Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuta’’, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These authors contributed equally to this work.

^‡

These authors share the last position.

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(3), 1109; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23031109

Submission received: 19 December 2021 / Revised: 10 January 2022 / Accepted: 18 January 2022 / Published: 20 January 2022

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Towards Personalized Treatment and Molecular Research on Gastrointestinal Tumors)

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Abstract

Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs) are rare tumors; however, their incidence greatly increases with age, and they occur more frequently among the elderly. They represent 5% of all pancreatic tumors, and despite the fact that low-grade tumors often have an indolent evolution, they portend a poor prognosis in an advanced stages and undifferentiated tumors. Additionally, functional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors greatly impact quality of life due to the various clinical syndromes that result from abnormal hormonal secretion. With limited therapeutic and diagnostic options, patient stratification and selection of optimal therapeutic strategies should be the main focus. Modest improvements in the management of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors have been achieved in the last years. Therefore, it is imperative to find new biomarkers and therapeutic strategies to improve patient survival and quality of life, limiting the disease burden. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small endogenous molecules that modulate the expression of thousands of genes and control numerous critical processes involved in tumor development and progression. New data also suggest the implication of miRNAs in treatment resistance and their potential as prognostic or diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets. In this review, we discusses the current and new challenges in the management of PanNETs, including genetic and epigenetic approaches. Furthermore, we summarize the available data on miRNAs as potential prognostic, predictive, or diagnostic biomarkers and discuss their function as future therapeutic targets.

Keywords: MicroRNAs; pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs); biomarkers; diagnosis; prognosis; therapeutic; genetic

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MDPI and ACS Style

Havasi, A.; Sur, D.; Cainap, S.S.; Lungulescu, C.-V.; Gavrilas, L.-I.; Cainap, C.; Vlad, C.; Balacescu, O. Current and New Challenges in the Management of Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors: The Role of miRNA-Based Approaches as New Reliable Biomarkers. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23, 1109. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23031109

AMA Style

Havasi A, Sur D, Cainap SS, Lungulescu C-V, Gavrilas L-I, Cainap C, Vlad C, Balacescu O. Current and New Challenges in the Management of Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors: The Role of miRNA-Based Approaches as New Reliable Biomarkers. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2022; 23(3):1109. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23031109

Chicago/Turabian Style

Havasi, Andrei, Daniel Sur, Simona Sorana Cainap, Cristian-Virgil Lungulescu, Laura-Ioana Gavrilas, Calin Cainap, Catalin Vlad, and Ovidiu Balacescu. 2022. "Current and New Challenges in the Management of Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors: The Role of miRNA-Based Approaches as New Reliable Biomarkers" International Journal of Molecular Sciences 23, no. 3: 1109. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23031109

APA Style

Havasi, A., Sur, D., Cainap, S. S., Lungulescu, C.-V., Gavrilas, L.-I., Cainap, C., Vlad, C., & Balacescu, O. (2022). Current and New Challenges in the Management of Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors: The Role of miRNA-Based Approaches as New Reliable Biomarkers. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 23(3), 1109. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23031109

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Current and New Challenges in the Management of Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors: The Role of miRNA-Based Approaches as New Reliable Biomarkers

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