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Circulating microRNAs in Breast Cancer—Current Evidence and Future Perspectives

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A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Biomarkers".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 June 2023) | Viewed by 5690

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Rita De Sanctis

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Guest Editor

Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Via Rita Levi Montalcini 4, Pieve Emanuele, 20090 Milan, Italy
Interests: breast cancer; neoadjuvant chemotherapy; pathological complete response; prognosis; predictive factors; microbiome; radiomics; headache disorders; quality of life; nomograms

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small, non-coding RNA that regulate the gene expression of target mRNAs at the post-transcriptional level. miRNAs have been implicated in regulating hallmarks of breast cancer, including cell proliferation, cell death, apoptosis, immune response, cell-cycle energetics, senescence, invasion, and metastasis. Moreover, miRNAs are emerging as novel potential predictive/prognostic biomarkers of disease and response to therapy. Several miRNAs have been found deregulated in breast cancer cell lines, on cancer specimens and in the serum of breast cancer patients, and have been correlated with prognostic features and with response or resistance to several therapeutic agents. This Special Issue will highlight the current state of the art in circulating miRNA biology, as well as future perspectives for treatment optimization.

Dr. Rita De Sanctis
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

microRNAs
breast cancer
circulating miRNA
biomarker
predictive
prognosis
miRNA signature
mechanisms of resistance

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Review

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17 pages, 746 KiB

Open AccessReview

Potential Role of Circulating miRNAs for Breast Cancer Management in the Neoadjuvant Setting: A Road to Pave

by Chiara Benvenuti, Paola Tiberio, Mariangela Gaudio, Flavia Jacobs, Giuseppe Saltalamacchia, Sebastiano Pindilli, Alberto Zambelli, Armando Santoro and Rita De Sanctis

Cancers 2023, 15(5), 1410; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15051410 - 23 Feb 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1613

Abstract

Recently, circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as potential non-invasive biomarkers for breast cancer (BC) management. In the context of BC patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), the possibility of obtaining repeated, non-invasive biological samples from patients before, during, and after treatment is incredibly convenient and provides the opportunity to investigate circulating miRNAs as diagnostic, predictive, and prognostic tools. The present review aims to summarize major findings in this setting, thus highlighting their potential applicability in daily clinical practice and their possible limitations. In all the contexts (diagnostic, predictive, and prognostic), circulating miR-21-5p and miR-34a-5p have emerged as the most promising non-invasive biomarkers for BC patients undergoing NAC. Specifically, their high baseline level could discriminate between BC patients and healthy controls. On the other hand, in predictive and prognostic investigations, low circulating miR-21-5p and miR-34a-5p levels may identify patients with better outcomes, in terms of both treatment response and invasive disease-free survival. However, the findings in this field have been very heterogeneous. Indeed, pre-analytical and analytical variables, as well as factors related to patients, may explain the inconsistency among different study results. Thus, further clinical trials, with more precise patient inclusion criteria and more standardized methodological approaches, are definitely needed to better define the potential role of these promising non-invasive biomarkers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circulating microRNAs in Breast Cancer—Current Evidence and Future Perspectives)

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22 pages, 1238 KiB

Open AccessReview

MicroRNAs with Multiple Targets of Immune Checkpoints, as a Potential Sensitizer for Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Breast Cancer Treatment

by Huiling Zhou, Wentao Jia, Lingeng Lu and Rui Han

Cancers 2023, 15(3), 824; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15030824 - 29 Jan 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2214

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common cancer type and the leading cause of cancer-associated mortality in women worldwide. In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have made significant progress in the treatment of breast cancer, yet there are still a considerable number of patients who are unable to gain lasting and ideal clinical benefits by immunotherapy alone, which leads to the development of a combination regimen as a novel research hotspot. Furthermore, one miRNA can target several checkpoint molecules, mimicking the therapeutic effect of a combined immune checkpoint blockade (ICB), which means that the miRNA therapy has been considered to increase the efficiency of ICIs. In this review, we summarized potential miRNA therapeutics candidates which can affect multiple targets of immune checkpoints in breast cancer with more therapeutic potential, and the obstacles to applying miRNA therapeutically through the analyses of the resources available from a drug target perspective. We also included the content of “too many targets for miRNA effect” (TMTME), combined with applying TargetScan database, to discuss adverse events. This review aims to ignite enthusiasm to explore the application of miRNAs with multiple targets of immune checkpoint molecules, in combination with ICIs for treating breast cancer. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circulating microRNAs in Breast Cancer—Current Evidence and Future Perspectives)

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Other

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24 pages, 2820 KiB

Open AccessSystematic Review

Unlocking the Potential of Circulating miRNAs in the Breast Cancer Neoadjuvant Setting: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

by Paola Tiberio, Mariangela Gaudio, Silvia Belloni, Sebastiano Pindilli, Chiara Benvenuti, Flavia Jacobs, Giuseppe Saltalamacchia, Alberto Zambelli, Armando Santoro and Rita De Sanctis

Cancers 2023, 15(13), 3424; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15133424 - 30 Jun 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1303

Abstract

The potential role of circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) as biomarkers in breast cancer (BC) management has been widely reported. However, the numerous discrepancies between studies in this regard hinders the implementation of circulating miRNAs in routine clinical practice. In the context of BC patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), the possibility of predicting NAC response may lead to prognostic improvements by individualizing post-neoadjuvant therapy. In this context, the present meta-analysis aims to clarify circulating miRNAs’ predictive role with respect to NAC response among BC patients. We conducted a comprehensive literature search on five medical databases until 16 February 2023. We pooled the effect sizes of each study by applying a random-effects model. Cochran’s Q test (p-level of significance set at 0.05) scores and I² values were assessed to determine between-study heterogeneity. The PROBAST (Prediction Model Risk of Bias Assessment Tool) tool was used to evaluate the selected studies’ risk of bias. Overall, our findings support the hypothesis that circulating miRNAs, specifically miR-21-5p and miR-155-5p, may act as predictive biomarkers in the neoadjuvant setting among BC patients. However, due to the limited number of studies included in this meta-analysis and the high degrees of clinical and statistical heterogeneity, further research is required to confirm the predictive power of circulating miR-21-5p and miR-155-5p. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circulating microRNAs in Breast Cancer—Current Evidence and Future Perspectives)

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