Novel prognostic and predictive microRNA targets for triple‐negative breast cancer

What is it about?

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer, and accounts for 10-24% of all breast cancer cases. TNBC is clinically challenging since it does not express the proteins that are commonly used as drug targets in other types of breast cancer to stop tumors from growing and spreading from the breast to distant organs or metastasizing. Thus, only standard chemotherapy regimens are the available for the treatment of TNBC patients. TNBC patients will often have a short-lived response to this chemotherapy treatment, and the disease will recur and metastasize, with the majority of death occurring within the first five years from diagnosis. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small molecules that have the ability to orchestrate or regulate the behavior of a number of genes at once. Many of the genes regulated by miRNAs have been studied to be involved in cancer progression. However, the miRNAs present and the genes they regulate specifically in TNBC patients are still largely unknown. This study assessed the global expression of miRNAs present in a group of TNBC patient samples, and identified a distinct profile of miRNAs that correlate with clinical features including patient relapse and overall survival. Our group has unveiled novel miRNAs and novel miRNA regulated genes that may serve as successful therapeutic targets for the personalized treatment of TNBC patients.

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