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Regulation of microRNAs by Natural Agents: An Emerging Field in Chemoprevention and Chemotherapy Research

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ABSTRACT

In recent years, microRNAs have received greater attention in cancer research. These small, non-coding RNAs could inhibit target gene expression by binding to the 3′ untranslated region of target mRNA, resulting in either mRNA degradation or inhibition of translation. miRNAs play important roles in many normal biological processes; however, studies have also shown that aberrant miRNA expression is correlated with the development and progression of cancers. The miRNAs could have oncogenic or tumor suppressor activities. Moreover, some miRNAs could regulate formation of cancer stem cells and epithelial-mesenchymal transition phenotype of cancer cells which are typically drug resistant. Furthermore, miRNAs could be used as biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis, and thus miRNAs are becoming emerging targets for cancer therapy. Recent studies have shown that natural agents including curcumin, isoflavone, indole-3-carbinol, 3,3′-diindolylmethane, (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate, resveratrol, etc. could alter miRNA expression profiles, leading to the inhibition of cancer cell growth, induction of apoptosis, reversal of epithelial-mesenchymal transition, or enhancement of efficacy of conventional cancer therapeutics. These emerging results clearly suggest that specific targeting of miRNAs by natural agents could open newer avenues for complete eradication of tumors by killing the drug-resistant cells to improve survival outcome in patients diagnosed with malignancies.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors’ work cited in this review article was funded by grants from the National Cancer Institute, NIH (5R01CA083695, 5R01CA131151, 3R01CA131151-02S109, and 1R01CA132794 awarded to FHS), and a sub-contract award to FHS from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center through SPORE grant (5P20-CA101936, 3P20CA101936-05 S109) on pancreatic cancer awarded to James Abbruzzese. We also thank Puschelberg and Guido foundations for their generous contribution.

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  1. Department of Pathology, Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, USA

    Yiwei Li, Dejuan Kong, Zhiwei Wang & Fazlul H. Sarkar

  2. Department of Pathology, Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University School of Medicine, 740 HWCRC, 4100 John R Street, Detroit, Michigan, 48201, USA

    Fazlul H. Sarkar

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  1. Yiwei Li
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Li, Y., Kong, D., Wang, Z. et al. Regulation of microRNAs by Natural Agents: An Emerging Field in Chemoprevention and Chemotherapy Research. Pharm Res 27, 1027–1041 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11095-010-0105-y

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