MicroRNAs in Colorectal Cancer

  • Ondrej Slaby
  • Marek Svoboda
  • Jaroslav Michalek
  • Rostislav Vyzula
Chapter
First Online:

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) represents one of the most frequent causes of death for cancer. CRC has been recently defined as the third most common cancer. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small interfering RNAs frequently involved in the pathogenesis of cancer. Polymorphisms within miRNAs binding regions have been described as new risk factors for CRC. Several genome-wide profiling studies have identified miRNAs deregulated in CRC tissue. A number of experimental studies on these miRNAs revealed insight into miRNA-mediated regulatory links to well-known oncogenic and tumor suppressor signaling pathways. Several investigations have also described the ability of specific miRNA expression profiles to predict prognosis and therapy response in CRC patients. In this chapter, we focus on the most significant findings of original studies on miRNAs involvement in CRC pathogenesis, focusing also on the potential of cancer-related miRNAs as biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, prediction, and therapeutical targets.

Keywords

Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Colon Cancer Cell miRNA Expression Adenomatous Polyposis Coli Fecal Occult Blood Test 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer Netherlands 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  • Ondrej Slaby
    • 1
  • Marek Svoboda
    • 1
  • Jaroslav Michalek
    • 2
  • Rostislav Vyzula
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Comprehensive Cancer CareMasaryk Memorial Cancer InstituteBrnoCzech Republic
  2. 2.Faculty of MedicineUniversity Cell Immunotherapy Center, Masaryk UniversityBrnoCzech Republic

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