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MiRNAs and their interplay with PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway in ovarian cancer cells: a potential role in platinum resistance

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Abstract

Ovarian cancer is a leading cause of death among gynecologic malignancies. This disappointing prognosis is closely related to intrinsic or acquired resistance to conventional platinum-based chemotherapy, which can affect a third of patients. As such, investigating relevant molecular targets is crucial in the fight against this disease. So far, many mutations involved in ovarian cancer pathogenesis have been identified. Among them, a few pathways were implicated. One such pathway is the P13K/AKT/mTOR with abnormalities found in many cases. This pathway is considered to have an instrumental role in proliferation, migration, invasion and, more recently, in chemotherapy resistance. Many miRNAs have been found to influence P13K/AKT/mTOR pathway with different potential role in tumor genesis and ovarian cancer behaviour. In particular, their biological function was recently investigated as regards chemoresistance, therefore, leading to the identification of potential specific indirect biomarker of platinum sensitivity in ovarian cancer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gynecology Obstetrics and Urology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Maria Luisa Gasparri, Raad Aris Besharat & Pierluigi Benedetti Panici

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital of Bern, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Maria Luisa Gasparri, Katayoun Taghavi, Andrea Papadia & Michael David Mueller

  3. Surgical and Medical Department of Translational Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Maria Luisa Gasparri

  4. Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Zein Mersini Besharat & Elisabetta Ferretti

  5. Institute of Biomedical and Genetic Engineering (IBGE), Islamabad, Pakistan

    Ammad Ahmad Farooqi

  6. Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Sumbul Khalid

  7. Department of Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Claudia Sabato

  8. Center for Life NanoScience@Sapienza, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Rome, Italy

    Claudia Sabato

  9. IRCCS Neuromed, Pozzilli, Italy

    Elisabetta Ferretti

Authors
  1. Maria Luisa Gasparri
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  2. Zein Mersini Besharat
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  3. Ammad Ahmad Farooqi
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Contributions

MLG was responsible for the conceptualization and literature search. The introduction and the conclusions were equally drafted by MLG and KT. MB and CS reported the literature results on oncogenic and oncosuppressor miRNAs; AAF drafted the figure and participated with SK in reporting and commenting the results reported in the task on epigenetic results and biology of cancer. Furthermore, KT and AP edited the English language. ARB participated in the literature search and edited the paper according to the journal guidelines. PBP, MDM, and EF performed the final revision.

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Correspondence to Maria Luisa Gasparri.

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Gasparri, M.L., Besharat, Z.M., Farooqi, A.A. et al. MiRNAs and their interplay with PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway in ovarian cancer cells: a potential role in platinum resistance. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 144, 2313–2318 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-018-2737-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-018-2737-y

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