Department of Surgery, The Lambe Institute for Translational Research, University of Galway, H91 YR71 Galway, Ireland.
Genes (Basel). 2022 Nov 7;13(11):2054. doi: 10.3390/genes13112054.
Ovarian cancer is a commonly diagnosed malignancy in women. When diagnosed at an early stage, survival outcomes are favourable for the vast majority, with up to 90% of ovarian cancer patients being free of disease at 5 years follow-up. Unfortunately, ovarian cancer is typically diagnosed at an advanced stage due to the majority of patients remaining asymptomatic until the cancer has metastasised, resulting in poor outcomes for the majority. While the molecular era has facilitated the subclassification of the disease into distinct clinical subtypes, ovarian cancer remains managed and treated as a single disease entity. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small (19-25 nucleotides), endogenous molecules which are integral to regulating gene expression. Aberrant miRNA expression profiles have been described in several cancers, and have been implicated to be useful biomarkers which may aid cancer diagnostics and treatment. Several preliminary studies have identified candidate tumour suppressor and oncogenic miRNAs which may be involved in the development and progression of ovarian cancer, highlighting their candidacy as oncological biomarkers; understanding the mechanisms by which these miRNAs regulate the key processes involved in oncogenesis can improve our overall understanding of cancer development and identify novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets. This review highlights the potential role of miRNAs which may be utilised to aid diagnosis, estimate prognosis and enhance therapeutic strategies in the management of primary ovarian cancer.
卵巢癌是女性常见的恶性肿瘤。在早期诊断时，绝大多数患者的生存预后良好，多达 90%的卵巢癌患者在 5 年随访时无疾病。不幸的是，由于大多数患者在癌症转移之前无症状，因此卵巢癌通常在晚期诊断，这导致大多数患者的预后较差。尽管分子时代有助于将该疾病细分为不同的临床亚型，但卵巢癌仍作为一种单一疾病实体进行治疗。微小 RNA（miRNA）是小的（19-25 个核苷酸）内源性分子，是调节基因表达的重要组成部分。几种癌症中描述了异常的 miRNA 表达谱，并且已经被认为是有用的生物标志物，可能有助于癌症诊断和治疗。几项初步研究已经确定了候选肿瘤抑制因子和致癌 miRNA，它们可能参与卵巢癌的发生和发展，突出了它们作为肿瘤生物标志物的候选地位；了解这些 miRNA 调节致癌作用中关键过程的机制可以提高我们对癌症发展的整体认识，并确定新的生物标志物和治疗靶点。这篇综述强调了 miRNA 的潜在作用，这些 miRNA 可能有助于辅助诊断、估计预后并增强原发性卵巢癌管理中的治疗策略。
