Abstract
The recent upsurge of interest in microRNA (miRNA) is partly attributed to the discovery of the novel roles of miRNAs in many physiological and pathological processes, including tumor development. Research on breast cancer metastasis has also focused on the concept of miRNA, which can act either as promoters or as suppressors of metastases. This review will focus on a series of recent studies that demonstrate the involvement of miRNAs in breast cancer metastasis and will briefly describe various pathways of miRNA-regulated metastasis. Finally, future prospects will be discussed for the potential role of miRNAs as predictive markers and therapeutic agents for patients with breast cancer metastases.
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Abbreviations
- BMP:
-
bone morphogenetic protein
- BRMS1:
-
breast cancer metastasis-suppressor 1
- ECM:
-
extracellular matrix
- EGFR:
-
epidermal growth factor receptor
- EMT:
-
epithelial–mesenchymal transition
- FAP-1:
-
Fas-associated phosphatase-1
- HMGA2:
-
high mobility group AT-hook 2
- HOXD10:
-
homeobox D10
- IL-8:
-
interleukin 8
- MERTK:
-
c-Mer tyrosine kinase
- ER alpha:
-
Estrogen receptor alpha
- MMP:
-
matrix metalloproteinase
- ND:
-
not determined
- NF-κB:
-
nuclear factor-κB
- PDCD4:
-
tumor suppressor programmed cell death 4
- RhoA and RhoC:
-
two members of the Rho GTPase family
- SATB1:
-
special AT-rich sequence-binding protein-1
- TGF-β:
-
Transforming growth factor-β
- Tiam1:
-
T lymphoma invasion and metastasis 1
- TIMP3:
-
tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 3
- TNC:
-
tenascin C
- TPM1:
-
tropomyosin 1
- Tristetraprolin:
-
TTP
- uPA:
-
urokinase-type plasminogen activator
- VEGF:
-
vascular endothelial growth factor
- ZEBs:
-
zinc finger E-box-binding homeoboxes
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We thank Dr Bing Xia for a critical review of the manuscript.
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Wang, L., Wang, J. MicroRNA-mediated breast cancer metastasis: from primary site to distant organs. Oncogene 31, 2499–2511 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2011.444
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2011.444
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