The Accuracy of Single MicroRNAs in Peripheral Blood to Diagnose Ovarian Cancer: An Updated Meta-Analysis

Current strategies for early epithelial ovarian cancer detection using miRNA as a potential tool

Ovarian cancer is one of the most aggressive and significant malignant tumor forms in the female reproductive system. It is the leading cause of death among gynecological cancers owing to its metastasis. Since its preliminary disease symptoms are lacking, it is imperative to develop early diagnostic biomarkers to aid in treatment optimization and personalization. In this vein, microRNAs, which are short sequence non-coding molecules, displayed great potential as highly specific and sensitive biomarker. miRNAs have been extensively advocated and proven to serve an instrumental part in the clinical management of cancer, especially ovarian cancer, by promoting the cancer cell progression, invasion, delayed apoptosis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, metastasis of cancer cells, chemosensitivity and resistance and disease therapy. Here, we cover our present comprehension of the most up-to-date microRNA-based approaches to detect ovarian cancer, as well as current diagnostic and treatment strategies, the role of microRNAs as oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes, and their significance in ovarian cancer progression, prognosis, and therapy.

Insight on Non-Coding RNAs from Biofluids in Ovarian Tumors

Ovarian tumors are the most frequent adnexal mass, raising diagnostic and therapeutic issues linked to a large spectrum of tumors, with a continuum from benign to malignant. Thus far, none of the available diagnostic tools have proven efficient in deciding strategy, and no consensus exists on the best strategy between "single test", "dual testing", "sequential testing", "multiple testing options" and "no testing". In addition, there is a need for prognostic tools such as biological markers of recurrence and theragnostic tools to detect women not responding to chemotherapy in order to adapt therapies. Non-coding RNAs are classified as small or long based on their nucleotide count. Non-coding RNAs have multiple biological functions such as a role in tumorigenesis, gene regulation and genome protection. These ncRNAs emerge as new potential tools to differentiate benign from malignant tumors and to evaluate prognostic and theragnostic factors. In the specific setting of ovarian tumors, the goal of the present work is to offer an insight into the contribution of biofluid non-coding RNAs (ncRNA) expression.

Disease progression role as well as the diagnostic and prognostic value of microRNA-21 in patients with cervical cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction

Cervical cancer is the fourth commonest and the fourth leading cause of cancer death in females globally. The upregulated expression of microRNA-21 in cervical cancer has been investigated in numerous studies, yet given the inconsistency on some of the findings, a systematic review and meta-analysis is needed. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to investigate the role in disease progression as well as the diagnostic and prognostic value of microRNA-21 in patients with cervical cancer.

Methods

Literature search was carried out through visiting several electronic databases including PubMed/MEDLINE/ PubMed Central, Web of Science, Embase, WorldCat, DOAJ, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar. After extraction, data analysis was carried out using Rev-Man 5.3, STATA 15.0 and Meta-disk 1.4. I2 and meta-bias statistics assessed heterogeneity and publication bias of the included studies, respectively. The area under summary receiver operating characteristic curve and other diagnostic indexes were used to estimate diagnostic accuracy.

Result

A total of 53 studies were included for this systematic review and meta-analysis. This study summarized that microRNA-21 targets the expression of numerous genes that regulate their subsequent downstream signaling pathways which promote cervical carcinogenesis. The targets addressed in this study included TNF-α, CCL20, PTEN RasA1, TIMP3, PDCD-4, TPM-1, FASL, BTG-2, GAS-5, and VHL. In addition, the meta-analysis of reports from 6 eligible studies has demonstrated that the overall area under the curve (AUC) of summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) of microRNA-21 as a diagnostic accuracy index for cervical cancer was 0.80 (95% CI: 0.75, 0.86). In addition, evidence from studies revealed that upregulated microRNA-21 led to worsening progression and poor prognosis in cervical cancer patients.

Conclusion

microRNA-21 is an oncogenic microRNA molecule playing a key role in the development and progression of cervical malignancy. It has good diagnostic accuracy in the diagnosis of cervical cancer. In addition, the upregulation of microRNA-21 could predict a worse outcome in terms of prognosis in cervical cancer patients.

The Role of miRNA in Ovarian Cancer: an Overview

Ovarian cancer (OC) is a highly malignant disease that seriously threatens women’s health and poses challenges for clinicians. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have recently been intensively studied in the field of oncology due to their regulatory roles in gene expressions through RNA degradation and/or translation inhibition. This review summarizes the current studies on miRNAs in OC and introduces the latest updates of miRNAs in the early screening, treatment, and prognostic prediction of OC, thereby demonstrating the clinical significance of miRNAs in OC. Further exploration on potential targets of miRNAs in OC may provide new insights on optimizing the diagnosis and treatment of OC. MiRNAs are important driving factors for the progression of OC and the dysregulation of miRNAs can serve as biomarkers in the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of OC. Therefore, miRNAs are potential biological targets for early screening, targeted therapy, drug resistance monitoring, and prognosis improvement in malignancies such as OC.

MicroRNAs as Biomarkers for Early Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Therapeutic Targeting of Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer is the major cause of gynecologic cancer-related mortality. Regardless of outstanding advances, which have been made for improving the prognosis, diagnosis, and treatment of ovarian cancer, the majority of the patients will die of the disease. Late-stage diagnosis and the occurrence of recurrent cancer after treatment are the most important causes of the high mortality rate observed in ovarian cancer patients. Unraveling the molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer may help find new biomarkers and therapeutic targets for ovarian cancer. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression, mostly at the posttranscriptional stage, through binding to mRNA targets and inducing translational repression or degradation of target via the RNA-induced silencing complex. Over the last two decades, the role of miRNAs in the pathogenesis of various human cancers, including ovarian cancer, has been documented in multiple studies. Consequently, these small RNAs could be considered as reliable markers for prognosis and early diagnosis. Furthermore, given the function of miRNAs in various cellular pathways, including cell survival and differentiation, targeting miRNAs could be an interesting approach for the treatment of human cancers. Here, we review our current understanding of the most updated role of the important dysregulation of miRNAs and their roles in the progression and metastasis of ovarian cancer. Furthermore, we meticulously discuss the significance of miRNAs as prognostic and diagnostic markers. Lastly, we mention the opportunities and the efforts made for targeting ovarian cancer through inhibition and/or stimulation of the miRNAs.