MicroRNA-mediated control of prostate cancer metastasis: implications for the identification of novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets.

Abstract

Prostate cancer is the most prevalent tumor in the male population and the second leading cause of cancer-related death in men in Western countries. Besides genetic and epigenetic aberrations in protein coding genes, alterations in microRNAs equally contribute to prostate cancer initiation and progression. In this context, a plethora of overwhelming evidence establishes the involvement of microRNAs as essential actors in the multi-step cascade fostering a prostate cancer cell to leave the primary tumor and form secondary tumors at distant sites. Herein, we describe how specific microRNAs may impinge on the different stages of prostate cancer metastasis and review published profiling studies in which microRNA expression data have been analyzed in relation to clinical parameters of progression for the identification of novel biomarkers. We also provide evidence concerning the possibility to manipulate metastasis-related microRNA functions, either by mimicking or inhibiting them, as a highly promising strategy for the development of innovative therapeutic approaches for the advanced disease.