TY - JOUR
T1 - Roles of micrornas in regulating cancer stemness in head and neck cancers
AU - Fitriana, Melysa
AU - Hwang, Wei Lun
AU - Chan, Pak Yue
AU - Hsueh, Tai Yuan
AU - Liao, Tsai Tsen
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This work was supported by the Yen Tjing Ling Medical Foundation in Taiwan and the Cancer Progression Research Center, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, from the Featured Areas Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (MOE). We appreciate the funding from the Ministry of Science and Technology (109-2320-B-010-021 to W.-L.H.; MOST 109-2636-B-038-001 and MOST 110-2636-B-038-005 to T.-T.L.) and Taipei Medical University (TMU108-AE1-B25 to T.-T.L), the Yen Tjing Ling Medical Foundation (CI-109-11 to W.-L.H.), and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Center of Excellence for Cancer Research (MOHW107-TDU-B-211-114019, 109 CRC-T208, and 110 CRC-T208 to W.-L.H.).
Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Yen Tjing Ling Medical Foundation in Taiwan and the Cancer Progression Research Center, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, from the Fea-tured Areas Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (MOE). We appreciate the funding from the Ministry of Science and Technology (109-2320-B-010-021 to W.-L.H.; MOST 109-2636-B-038-001 and MOST 110-2636-B-038-005 to T.-T.L.) and Taipei Medical University (TMU108-AE1-B25 to T.-T.L), the Yen Tjing Ling Medical Foundation (CI-109-11 to W.-L.H.), and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Center of Excellence for Cancer Research (MOHW107-TDU-B-211-114019, 109 CRC-T208, and 110 CRC-T208 to W.-L.H.).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/4/1
Y1 - 2021/4/1
N2 - Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) are epithelial malignancies with 5-year overall survival rates of approximately 40–50%. Emerging evidence indicates that a small population of cells in HNSCC patients, named cancer stem cells (CSCs), play vital roles in the processes of tumor initiation, progression, metastasis, immune evasion, chemo-/radioresistance, and recur-rence. The acquisition of stem-like properties of cancer cells further provides cellular plasticity for stress adaptation and contributes to therapeutic resistance, resulting in a worse clinical outcome. Thus, targeting cancer stemness is fundamental for cancer treatment. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are known to regulate stem cell features in the development and tissue regeneration through a miRNA– target interactive network. In HNSCCs, miRNAs act as tumor suppressors and/or oncogenes to modulate cancer stemness and therapeutic efficacy by regulating the CSC-specific tumor microen-vironment (TME) and signaling pathways, such as epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), Wnt/β-catenin signaling, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) or insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) signaling pathways. Owing to a deeper understanding of disease-relevant miR-NAs and advances in in vivo delivery systems, the administration of miRNA-based therapeutics is feasible and safe in humans, with encouraging efficacy results in early-phase clinical trials. In this review, we summarize the present findings to better understand the mechanical actions of miRNAs in maintaining CSCs and acquiring the stem-like features of cancer cells during HNSCC pathogenesis.
AB - Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) are epithelial malignancies with 5-year overall survival rates of approximately 40–50%. Emerging evidence indicates that a small population of cells in HNSCC patients, named cancer stem cells (CSCs), play vital roles in the processes of tumor initiation, progression, metastasis, immune evasion, chemo-/radioresistance, and recur-rence. The acquisition of stem-like properties of cancer cells further provides cellular plasticity for stress adaptation and contributes to therapeutic resistance, resulting in a worse clinical outcome. Thus, targeting cancer stemness is fundamental for cancer treatment. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are known to regulate stem cell features in the development and tissue regeneration through a miRNA– target interactive network. In HNSCCs, miRNAs act as tumor suppressors and/or oncogenes to modulate cancer stemness and therapeutic efficacy by regulating the CSC-specific tumor microen-vironment (TME) and signaling pathways, such as epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), Wnt/β-catenin signaling, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) or insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) signaling pathways. Owing to a deeper understanding of disease-relevant miR-NAs and advances in in vivo delivery systems, the administration of miRNA-based therapeutics is feasible and safe in humans, with encouraging efficacy results in early-phase clinical trials. In this review, we summarize the present findings to better understand the mechanical actions of miRNAs in maintaining CSCs and acquiring the stem-like features of cancer cells during HNSCC pathogenesis.
KW - Cancer stem cell
KW - Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma
KW - MicroRNA
KW - Stemness
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85103546119&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85103546119&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/cancers13071742
DO - 10.3390/cancers13071742
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85103546119
VL - 13
JO - Cancers
JF - Cancers
SN - 2072-6694
IS - 7
M1 - 1742
ER -