Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, 2nd Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.
Med Sci Monit. 2012 Mar;18(3):RA22-30. doi: 10.12659/msm.882509.
Esophageal cancer is the eighth most common cancer and causes the sixth highest cancer-related mortality worldwide. The 5-year survival of patients suffering from esophageal cancer in either advanced stage or metastasis is less than 20%. MicroRNAs are small, well conserved, non-coding RNA molecules that either repress translation or promote mRNA degradation based on the degree of complementary between miRNAs and mRNAs. Based on biogenesis and function of microRNAs, specific microRNA profiles, either from cancerous tissues or serum, were able to serve as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of esophageal cancer and predicted the effectiveness of surgery and chemoradiotherapy. MicroRNAs could also influence the biological behaviors of esophageal cancer cells, such as cellular proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and metastasis. MicroRNAs were also associated with multi-drug resistance of esophageal cancer. Further studies on the roles of microRNAs in esophageal cancer would provide a strategy to prevent and treat esophageal cancer, and reverse multi-drug resistance of esophageal cancer.
食管癌是全球第八大常见癌症，也是导致第六大癌症相关死亡的原因。无论是晚期还是转移的食管癌患者，其 5 年生存率都不到 20%。微小 RNA（miRNA）是一类小的、高度保守的非编码 RNA 分子，它们通过 miRNA 与 mRNAs 之间互补程度的不同，抑制翻译或促进 mRNA 降解。基于 miRNA 的生物发生和功能，来自癌症组织或血清的特定 miRNA 谱可作为食管癌的诊断和预后生物标志物，并预测手术和放化疗的疗效。miRNA 还可以影响食管癌细胞的生物学行为，如细胞增殖、凋亡、侵袭和转移。miRNA 也与食管癌的多药耐药性有关。进一步研究 miRNA 在食管癌中的作用，将为预防和治疗食管癌以及逆转食管癌的多药耐药性提供一种策略。
