Park JY, Helm J, Coppola D, Kim D, Malafa M, Kim SJ. MicroRNAs in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. World J Gastroenterol 2011; 17(7): 817-827 [PMID: 21412491 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v17.i7.817]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Seung Joon Kim, MD, PhD, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, the Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-040, South Korea. cmcksj@catholic.ac.kr
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
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World J Gastroenterol. Feb 21, 2011; 17(7): 817-827 Published online Feb 21, 2011. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v17.i7.817
MicroRNAs in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
Jong Y Park, James Helm, Domenico Coppola, Donghwa Kim, Mokenge Malafa, Seung Joon Kim
Jong Y Park, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Moffitt Cancer Center, FL 33612, United States
James Helm, Mokenge Malafa, Gastrointestinal Tumor Program, Moffitt Cancer Center, FL 33612, United States
Domenico Coppola, Department of Anatomic Pathology, Moffitt Cancer Center, FL 33612, United States
Donghwa Kim, Department of Molecular Oncology, Moffitt Cancer Center, FL 33612, United States
Seung Joon Kim, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, the Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-040, South Korea
Author contributions: Park JY drafted the initial concept, wrote, reviewed and finalized the manuscript; Helm J provided clinical information, participated in writing, and revised the manuscript; Coppola D provided clinical information, participated in writing, and revised the manuscript; Kim D provided valuable advice for study design and drew the figure; Malafa M provided clinical information, participated in writing, and revised the manuscript; Kim SJ designed the manuscript format, collected the references and wrote the manuscript.
Supported by Moffitt Faculty Support Fund
Correspondence to: Seung Joon Kim, MD, PhD, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, the Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-040, South Korea. cmcksj@catholic.ac.kr
Telephone: +82-2-22586063 Fax: +82-2-5993589
Received: August 14, 2010 Revised: November 25, 2010 Accepted: December 2, 2010 Published online: February 21, 2011
Abstract
Ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas is a lethal cancer for which the only chance of long-term survival belongs to the patient with localized disease in whom a potentially curative resection can be done. Therefore, biomarkers for early detection and new therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. miRNAs are a recently discovered class of small endogenous non-coding RNAs of about 22 nucleotides that have gained attention for their role in downregulation of mRNA expression at the post-transcriptional level. miRNAs regulate proteins involved in critical cellular processes such as differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis. Evidence suggests that deregulated miRNA expression is involved in carcinogenesis at many sites, including the pancreas. Aberrant expression of miRNAs may upregulate the expression of oncogenes or downregulate the expression of tumor suppressor genes, as well as play a role in other mechanisms of carcinogenesis. The purpose of this review is to summarize our knowledge of deregulated miRNA expression in pancreatic cancer and discuss the implication for potential translation of this knowledge into clinical practice.
