Guest Editor(s)
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- Erik A.C. Wiemer, PhD
- Department of Medical Oncology, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
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Special Issue Introduction
Anticancer drug resistance is still a major impediment for the successful treatment of cancer. Over the years, specific cell-types, multiple genes and biochemical pathways have been reported to contribute to the process of resistance. However, as of yet, this vast knowledge has not resulted in a widely applicable way of reversing resistance. Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) were indicated as important mediators of drug resistant phenotypes in many different cancers. MiRNAs negatively regulate gene expression by binding, in the context of the RNA induced silencing complex (RISC), to specific sites on the 3’UTR of target mRNAs, thereby causing mRNA degradation and/or interfering with translation. MiRNAs constitute powerful biomolecules as each miRNA is capable of regulating the expression of multiple genes and each mRNA contains binding sites for multiple miRNAs. Numerous miRNAs have been identified that modulate the sensitivity of cancer cells for specific anticancer drugs. Further in-depth studies on these miRNAs and the genes and biochemical pathways they regulate will reveal novel and important mechanisms of resistance that may be inhibited to prevent or overcome resistance. Moreover, specific miRNAs may be instrumental as biomarker signaling drug resistance or can be exploited as a therapeutic target or anticancer agent.
Keywords
Cancer, multidrug resistance, anticancer drugs, drug resistance, non coding RNA, microRNA, miRNA, resistance mechanisms
Submission Deadline
31 Jan 2021