MicroRNAs Targeting MYC Expression: Trace of Hope for Pancreatic Cancer Therapy. A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the deadliest malignancies and a major health problem worldwide. There were no major advances in conventional treatments in inhibiting tumor progression and increasing patient survival time. In order to suppress mechanisms responsible for tumor cell development such as those with oncogenic roles, more advanced therapeutic strategies should be sought. One of the most important oncogenes of pancreatic cancer is the gene. The overexpression of can activate many tumorigenic processes such as cell proliferation and pancreatic cancer cell invasion. MiRNAs are important molecules that are confirmed by targeting mRNA transcripts to regulate the expression of the gene. Therefore, restoring -repressing miRNAs expression tends to be an effective method of treating MYC-driven cancers.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to identify all validated microRNAs targeting expression to inhibit PDAC progression by conducting a systematic review.

METHODS

In this systematic review study, the papers published between 2000 and 2020 in major online scientific databases including PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science were screened, following inclusion and exclusion criteria. We extracted all the experimental studies that showed miRNAs could target the expression of the MYC gene in PDAC.

RESULTS

Eight papers were selected from a total of 89 papers. We found that six miRNAs (Let-7a, miR-145, miR-34a, miR-375, miR-494, and miR-148a) among the selected studies were validated for targeting MYC gene and three of them confirmed Let-7a as a direct MYC expression regulator in PC cells. Finally, we summarized the latest shreds of evidence of experimentally validated miRNAs targeting the MYC gene with respect to PDAC's therapeutic potential.

CONCLUSION

Restoring the expression of -repressing miRNAs tends to be an effective way to treat -driven cancers such as PDAC. Several miRNAs have been proposed to target this oncogene via bioinformatics tools, but only a few have been experimentally validated for pancreatic cancer cells and models. Further studies should be conducted to find the interaction network of miRNA- to develop more successful therapeutic strategies for PC, using the synergistic effects of these miRNAs.