MicroRNA mediated therapeutic effects of natural agents in prostate cancer

Several natural products, extensively studied for their anticancer activities, have been found to play an efficient role in preventing prostate cancer (PCa). Recently many natural agents have been reported to modulate microRNAs (miRNAs), that are involved in cancer cell growth. The microRNAs are endogenous small noncoding ribonucleic acid molecules that regulate various biological processes through an elegant mechanism of post-transcriptional control of gene expression. Besides being involved in cancer initiation, progression, angiogenesis, inflammation, they have been reported to be responsible for chemoresistance, and radioresistance of tumors. The dysregulated miRNA expression has been associated with many cancers including PCa. Over the past several years, it has been found that natural agents are good regulators of miRNAs and have a role in PCa also. Understanding the molecular mechanisms involving miRNAs by natural agents could result in developing useful strategies to combat this deadly disease.

In order to collect research articles, the PubMed search engine was used with keywords 'prostate cancer' and 'natural agents' and 2007 papers were retrieved, further refinement with keywords 'phytochemical' and 'prostate cancer' showed 503 papers. Data was collected from research articles, published from 2010 to 2021. From these, research articles showing miRNA-mediated mechanisms were selected.

In this review, we have summarized the information available on the modulation of miRNAs by natural agents, their derivatives, and various combinatorial strategies with chemo/radiation therapy for the mitigation of PCa.

Based on the current review of literature, it has been found that the use of natural agents is a novel approach for altering miRNA expression strongly associated with PCa development, recurrence and resistance.