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Profiling of Estrogen-regulated MicroRNAs in Breast Cancer Cells
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Profiling of Estrogen-regulated MicroRNAs in Breast Cancer Cells

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MicroRNA Regulation of Epigenetic Modifiers in Breast Cancer

Brock Humphries1, Zhishan Wang2, Chengfeng Yang3,4

  • 1Center for Molecular Imaging, Department of Radiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; USA. brhu@med.umich.edu.

Cancers
|June 30, 2019
PubMed

Insights

Epigenetic alterations, including DNA methylation and histone modifications, drive breast cancer by affecting gene expression. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are also dysregulated and can influence these epigenetic changes, serving as potential biomarkers and therapeutics.

Area of Science:

  • Molecular Biology
  • Cancer Biology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Epigenetics involves heritable gene expression changes without altering DNA sequence.
  • Aberrant DNA methylation and histone modifications are key epigenetic changes in cancer.
  • MicroRNA (miRNA) dysregulation is a hallmark of cancer initiation and metastasis.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review epigenetic alterations and miRNA dysregulation in breast cancer.
  • To explore the interplay between epigenetics and miRNAs in breast cancer development.
  • To discuss miRNAs as epigenetic biomarkers and therapeutic targets in breast cancer.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of epigenetic mechanisms in breast cancer.
  • Analysis of miRNA's role in regulating epigenetic modifications.
  • Summary of validated epigenetic targets in breast cancer.

Main Results:

  • Epigenomic alterations drive oncogene expression and tumor suppressor silencing in breast cancer.
  • miRNAs are both affected by and contribute to epigenetic dysregulation in cancer.
  • miRNAs can directly target enzymes involved in chromatin structure and gene expression.

Conclusions:

  • The intricate relationship between epigenetics and miRNAs is crucial in breast cancer.
  • miRNAs hold promise as epigenetic biomarkers and therapeutic agents for breast cancer.
  • Targeting epigenetic modifications presents a viable strategy for breast cancer treatment.
Keywords:
breast cancerepigeneticsmicroRNAsnon-coding RNAs

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