Potential role of miRNAs and their inhibitors in glioma treatment.

Recent years have seen an intense period of research on the functions of miRNAs, recently discovered key regulators of gene expression that act through suppression of translation of target mRNAs. Several hundred miRNAs have been identified in humans, and these show characteristic expression patterns, depending on tissue type, cell type or environmental stimuli. Like other types of cancer, the brain tumor glioblastoma shows a distinct miRNA expression signature, and a number of recent studies have linked these miRNA alterations to key hallmarks of glioblastoma including proliferation, survival, invasion, angiogenesis and stem cell-like behavior. These studies have opened the door to the possibility of utilizing miRNAs or miRNA antagonists as therapeutic agents for the treatment of brain tumors.