College of Medicine, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha P.O. Box 2713, Qatar.
Biomedical Research Centre, Qatar University, Doha P.O. Box 2713, Qatar.
Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Sep 15;21(18):6750. doi: 10.3390/ijms21186750.
Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent diseases among women worldwide and is highly associated with cancer-related mortality. Of the four major molecular subtypes, HER2-positive and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) comprise more than 30% of all breast cancers. While the HER2-positive subtype lacks estrogen and progesterone receptors and overexpresses HER2, the TNBC subtype lacks estrogen, progesterone and HER2 receptors. Although advances in molecular biology and genetics have substantially ameliorated breast cancer disease management, targeted therapies for the treatment of estrogen-receptor negative breast cancer patients are still restricted, particularly for TNBC. On the other hand, it has been demonstrated that microRNAs, miRNAs or small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression are involved in diverse biological processes, including carcinogenesis. Moreover, circulating miRNAs in serum/plasma are among the most promising diagnostic/therapeutic tools as they are stable and relatively easy to quantify. Various circulating miRNAs have been identified in several human cancers including specific breast cancer subtypes. This review aims to discuss the role of circulating miRNAs as potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers as well as therapeutic targets for estrogen-receptor negative breast cancers, HER2+ and triple negative.
乳腺癌是全球女性中最常见的疾病之一，与癌症相关的死亡率高度相关。在四大主要分子亚型中，HER2 阳性和三阴性乳腺癌（TNBC）占所有乳腺癌的 30%以上。虽然 HER2 阳性亚型缺乏雌激素和孕激素受体并过表达 HER2，但 TNBC 亚型缺乏雌激素、孕激素和 HER2 受体。尽管分子生物学和遗传学的进步极大地改善了乳腺癌的疾病管理，但针对雌激素受体阴性乳腺癌患者的靶向治疗仍然有限，特别是对于 TNBC。另一方面，已经证明调节基因表达的 microRNAs（miRNAs 或小非编码 RNA）参与多种生物学过程，包括致癌作用。此外，血清/血浆中的循环 miRNAs 是最有前途的诊断/治疗工具之一，因为它们稳定且相对容易定量。在包括特定乳腺癌亚型在内的几种人类癌症中已经鉴定出各种循环 miRNAs。本综述旨在讨论循环 miRNAs 作为雌激素受体阴性乳腺癌、HER2+和三阴性乳腺癌的潜在诊断和预后生物标志物以及治疗靶点的作用。
