Expression Profiles of Circulating MicroRNAs in XELOX-Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy in Patients with Advanced Gastric Cancer

Micro-RNAs in breast cancer progression and metastasis: A chromatin and metabolic perspective

Breast cancer is a highly complex disease with multiple subtypes. While many of the breast cancer cases are sporadic some can be familial or hereditary. Genomic integrity is closely monitored by several mechanisms, such as DNA damage machinery and mitotic checkpoints. Any defect in the key genes involved in the regulation of these mechanisms often results in genomic instability, predisposing the cells to malignancy. This results in altered expression of many coding and noncoding genes. The noncoding RNAs especially the long noncoding RNA (lncRNAs) and microRNA (miRNAs) act as key regulators of cancer gene networks. Some miRNAs repress the expression of the heterochromatin-associated proteins, inducing the formation of open chromatin, and promoting the expression of genes required for oncogenesis. Additionally, specific miRNAs may also favour cancer progression and metastasis by regulating the expression of genes that support the metabolic microenvironment essential for cancer cell growth and proliferation. Understanding how these noncoding RNAs contribute to breast cancer development opens potential avenues for therapeutic intervention, targeting their dysregulated activity.

Exploration for Blood Biomarkers of Human Long Non-coding RNAs Predicting Oxaliplatin-Induced Chronic Neuropathy Through iPS Cell-Derived Sensory Neuron Analysis

Oxaliplatin, a platinum-based chemotherapeutic agent, frequently causes acute and chronic peripheral sensory neuropathy, for which no effective treatment has been established. In particular, chronic neuropathy can persist for years even after treatment completion, thus worsening patients' quality of life. To avoid the development of intractable adverse effects, a predictive biomarker early in treatment is awaited. In this study, we explored extracellular long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) released from primary sensory neurons as biomarker candidates for oxaliplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy. Because many human-specific lncRNA genes exist, we induced peripheral sensory neurons from human induced pluripotent stem cells. Oxaliplatin treatment changed the levels of many lncRNAs in extracellular vesicles (EVs) released from cultured primary sensory neurons. Among them, the levels of release of lncRNAs that were considered to be selectively expressed in dorsal root ganglia were correlated with those of lncRNAs in plasma EV obtained from healthy individuals. Several lncRNAs in plasma EVs early after the initiation of treatment showed greater changes in patients who did not develop chronic neuropathy that persisted for more than 1 year than in those who did. Therefore, these extracellular lncRNAs in plasma EVs may represent predictive biomarkers for the development of chronic peripheral neuropathy induced by oxaliplatin.

miRNA contributes to neuropathic pains

Neuropathic pain (NP) is a kind of chronic pain caused by direct injury to the peripheral or central nervous system (CNS). microRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that mostly interact with the 3 untranslated region of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) to regulate the expression of multiple genes. NP is characterized by changes in the expression of receptors and mediators, and there is evidence that miRNAs may contribute to some of these alterations. In this review, we aimed to fully comprehend the connection between NP and miRNA; and also, to establish a link between neurology, biology, and dentistry. Studies have shown that targeting miRNAs may be an effective therapeutic strategy for the treatment of chronic pain and potential target for the prevention of NP.