MicroRNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major type of liver cancer. It is the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of small non-coding RNAs, are aberrantly expressed in HCC. The genomic instability, transcriptionally regulation, and epigenetic alteration have been identified to contribute to the abnormal expression of miRNAs in HCC. Moreover, deregulation of miRNAs not only functionally enables liver tumorigenesis, but also promotes tumor progression. Further, aberrant expression of certain miRNAs is correlated with clinical features of HCC, indicating their potential to serve as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of HCC. Several miRNAs have been validated in independent cohorts as HCC biomarkers, paving the way for developing clinically useful platforms to aid in diagnosis and prognosis for patients, and to assist in HCC patient stratification with the potential for personalized adjuvant therapy. In addition, several oncogenic and tumor suppressive miRNAs are being exploited as possible therapeutic targets in HCC. In this chapter, recent studies on miRNA and HCC, particularly those that are clinically relevant, are discussed. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.