The role and expression of angiogenesis-related miRNAs in gastric cancer

Abstract

Simple Summary: The aberrant expression of several micro RNAs (miRNAs) has been shown to be involved in neoplastic angiogenesis, which is a crucial mechanism in gastric cancer onset and progression. In this review, the possible prognostic and predictive roles of angiogenesis-related miRNAs as novel biomarkers of gastric cancer have been evaluated, but neither tissue nor circulating biomarkers have shown a predictive role for response to anti-angiogenic treatment. Nevertheless, we consider that in future studies, miRNAs should be evaluated as candidate biomarkers with prognostic and predictive features. Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most frequently diagnosed malignant tumor and the third highest cause of cancer mortality worldwide. For advanced GC, many novel drugs and combinations have been tested, but results are still disappointing, and the disease is incurable in the majority of cases. In this regard, it is critical to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying GC development. Angiogenesis is one of the hallmarks of cancer with a fundamental role in GC growth and progression. Ramucirumab, a monoclonal antibody that binds to vascular endothelial growth factor-2 (VEGFR-2), is approved in the treatment of advanced and pretreated GC. However, no predictive biomarkers for ramucirumab have been identified so far. Micro RNAs (miRNAs) are a class of evolutionarily-conserved single-stranded non-coding RNAs that play an important role (via post-transcriptional regulation) in essentially all biologic processes, such as cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, survival, invasion, and migration. In our review, we aimed to analyze the available data on the role of angiogenesis-related miRNAs in GC.