The potential prognostic and therapeutic application of tissue and circulating microRNAs in cervical cancer

Cervical cancer (CC) is a common malignancy in women and a major cause of cancer-related mortality globally. Some novel biomarkers may enable the early diagnosis and monitoring of CC. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that control gene translation at a posttranscriptional level. Hence the deregulation of these molecules can cause many diseases. There appears to be an association between aberrant miRNA expression and CC, but the molecular mechanisms involved in the development of CC remain unknown. The upregulation of some circulating miRNAs, for example, miRNA-20a, miRNA-203, miRNA-21, miRNA-205, miRNA-218, and miR-485-5, as well as tissue-specific miRNAs, for example, miR-7, miR-10a, miR-17-5p, miR-135b, miR-149, and miR-203 have been found in patients with CC. There is also growing evidence for the importance of miRNAs in the development of drug resistance. This review therefore highlights recently published preclinical and clinical investigation performed on tissue specific and circulating miRNAs, as potential biomarkers for the detection of patients at early stages of CC, in the prediction of prognosis, and monitoring of their response to therapy.