Department of Anatomy, Animal Physiology and Biophysics, Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest, 91-95 Splaiul Independenței, 050095 Bucharest, Romania.
Center for Advanced Laser Technologies (CETAL), National Institute for Laser, Plasma and Radiation Physics, 409 Atomiștilor St., 77125 Măgurele, Romania.
Cells. 2020 Jan 9;9(1):169. doi: 10.3390/cells9010169.
Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality rate among gynecological cancers. Early clinical signs are missing and there is an urgent need to establish early diagnosis biomarkers. MicroRNAs are promising biomarkers in this respect. In this paper, we review the most recent advances regarding the alterations of microRNAs in ovarian cancer. We have briefly described the contribution of miRNAs in the mechanisms of ovarian cancer invasion, metastasis, and chemotherapy sensitivity. We have also summarized the alterations underwent by microRNAs in solid ovarian tumors, in animal models for ovarian cancer, and in various ovarian cancer cell lines as compared to previous reviews that were only focused the circulating microRNAs as biomarkers. In this context, we consider that the biomarker screening should not be limited to circulating microRNAs per se, but rather to the simultaneous detection of the same microRNA alteration in solid tumors, in order to understand the differences between the detection of nucleic acids in early vs. late stages of cancer. Moreover, in vitro and in vivo models should also validate these microRNAs, which could be very helpful as preclinical testing platforms for pharmacological and/or molecular genetic approaches targeting microRNAs. The enormous quantity of data produced by preclinical and clinical studies regarding the role of microRNAs that act synergistically in tumorigenesis mechanisms that are associated with ovarian cancer subtypes, should be gathered, integrated, and compared by adequate methods, including molecular clustering. In this respect, molecular clustering analysis should contribute to the discovery of best biomarkers-based microRNAs assays that will enable rapid, efficient, and cost-effective detection of ovarian cancer in early stages. In conclusion, identifying the appropriate microRNAs as clinical biomarkers in ovarian cancer might improve the life quality of patients.
卵巢癌是妇科癌症中死亡率最高的癌症。早期临床症状缺失，因此迫切需要建立早期诊断的生物标志物。microRNAs 在这方面是很有前途的生物标志物。在本文中，我们回顾了 microRNAs 在卵巢癌中的改变的最新进展。我们简要描述了 miRNAs 在卵巢癌侵袭、转移和化疗敏感性机制中的作用。我们还总结了实体卵巢肿瘤、卵巢癌动物模型以及各种卵巢癌细胞系中 microRNAs 的改变，与之前仅关注作为生物标志物的循环 microRNAs 的综述相比。在这种情况下，我们认为生物标志物的筛选不应仅限于循环 microRNAs 本身，而应同时检测实体肿瘤中相同的 microRNA 改变，以了解在癌症的早期和晚期阶段检测核酸之间的差异。此外，体外和体内模型也应验证这些 microRNAs，这对于针对 microRNAs 的药理学和/或分子遗传方法的临床前测试平台非常有帮助。应该通过适当的方法（包括分子聚类）收集、整合和比较临床前和临床研究中产生的大量数据，这些数据涉及协同作用于与卵巢癌亚型相关的肿瘤发生机制的 microRNAs 的作用。在这方面，分子聚类分析有助于发现基于最佳生物标志物的 microRNAs 检测方法，这些方法将能够快速、高效和具有成本效益地检测早期卵巢癌。总之，确定适当的 microRNAs 作为卵巢癌的临床生物标志物可能会提高患者的生活质量。
