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Cross-Roads to Drug Resistance and Metastasis in Breast Cancer: miRNAs Regulatory Function and Biomarker Capability

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Breast Cancer Metastasis and Drug Resistance

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 1152))

Abstract

Breast cancer and specifically metastatic breast cancer (mBC) constitutes a major health burden worldwide with the highest number of cancer-related mortality among women across the globe. Despite having similar subtypes, breast cancer patients present with a spectrum of aggressiveness and responsiveness to therapy due to cancer heterogeneity. Drug resistance and metastasis contribute to therapy failure and cancer recurrence. Research in the past two decades has focused on microRNAs (miRNAs), small endogenous non-coding RNAs, as active players in tumorigenesis, therapy resistance and metastasis and as novel non-invasive cancer biomarkers. This is due to their unique dysregulated signatures throughout tumor progression and their tumor suppressive/oncogenic roles. Identifying miRNAs signatures capable of predicting therapy response and metastatic onset in breast cancer patients might improve prognosis and offer prolonged median and relapse-free survival rate. Despite the growing reports on miRNAs as novel non-invasive biomarkers in breast cancer and as regulators of breast cancer drug resistance or metastasis, the quest on whether some miRNAs are capable of regulating both simultaneously is inevitable, yet understudied. This chapter will review the role of miRNAs as biomarkers and as active players in inducing/reversing anti-cancer drug resistance, driving/blocking metastasis or regulating both simultaneously in breast cancer.

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Abbreviations

BC:

Breast cancer

CTCs:

Circulating tumor cells

DCIS:

Ductal carcinoma in situ

DFS:

Disease-free survival

ER:

Estrogen receptor

mBC:

Metastatic breast cancer

MDR:

Multidrug resistance

microRNAs:

miRNAs or miRs

OS:

Overall survival

PFS:

Progression-free survival

TNBC:

Triple negative breast cancer

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Prof. Mounir AbouHaidar, Professor of Virology at the University of Toronto Dept. Cell & Systems Biology, for his critical reading of the manuscript and Ms. Nancy Nasr Al Deen for illustrating Fig. 18.1. The authors would also like to acknowledge the support of the Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS-L), the University Research Board (URB-AUB) and the International Breast Cancer and Nutrition (IBCN) project. Dr. Rabih Talhouk and Dr. Rihab Nasr are both members of IBCN. Ms. Nataly Naser Al Deen is the recipient of the AUB-CNRS-L scholarship.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

    Nataly Naser Al Deen & Rabih Talhouk

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

    Farah Nassar

  3. Department of Anatomy, Cell Biology and Physiological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

    Rihab Nasr

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  1. Nataly Naser Al Deen
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  2. Farah Nassar
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  3. Rihab Nasr
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  4. Rabih Talhouk
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Correspondence to Rihab Nasr or Rabih Talhouk .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Mitchell Cancer Institute, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL, USA

    Aamir Ahmad

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Naser Al Deen, N., Nassar, F., Nasr, R., Talhouk, R. (2019). Cross-Roads to Drug Resistance and Metastasis in Breast Cancer: miRNAs Regulatory Function and Biomarker Capability. In: Ahmad, A. (eds) Breast Cancer Metastasis and Drug Resistance. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 1152. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20301-6_18

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