Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Oncol. Aug 24, 2021; 12(8): 609-622
Published online Aug 24, 2021. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v12.i8.609
Roles of microRNAs in tumorigenesis and metastasis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma
Di Cui, Annie LM Cheung
Di Cui, Annie LM Cheung, School of Biomedical Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China
Author contributions: Cui D and Cheung ALM contributed to writing, discussion, and critical revision of the article.
Supported by Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong SAR, China, General Research Fund, No. 17111917.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Annie LM Cheung, BSc, PhD, Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, 21 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong 999077, China. lmcheung@hku.hk
Received: January 27, 2021
Peer-review started: January 27, 2021
First decision: May 7, 2021
Revised: May 11, 2021
Accepted: July 22, 2021
Article in press: July 22, 2021
Published online: August 24, 2021
Processing time: 208 Days and 1 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a deadly disease worldwide. Its poor prognosis is mainly due to the rapid tumor progression and high rate of invasion and metastasis. It is of great importance to understand the mechanisms underlying ESCC tumorigenesis and metastasis. Increasing studies confirmed the involvement of microRNAs (miRNAs) in cancer progression. Dysregulated miRNAs can serve as possible biomarkers for ESCC diagnosis or prognosis evaluation. Moreover, miRNAs function as small post-transcriptional regulators with notable therapeutic value. This review summarizes recent studies on the significance, biological functions, and clinical potential of miRNAs in tumorigenesis and metastasis of ESCC.