Role of microRNAs in maintaining cancer stem cells

Increasing evidence sustains that the establishment and maintenance of many, if not all, human cancers are due to cancer stem cells (CSCs), tumor cells with stem cell properties, such as the capacity to self-renew or generate progenitor and differentiated cells. CSCs seem to play a major role in tumor metastasis and drug resistance, but albeit the potential clinical importance, their regulation at the molecular level is not clear. Recent studies have highlighted several miRNAs to be differentially expressed in normal and cancer stem cells and established their role in targeting genes and pathways supporting cancer stemness properties. This review focuses on the last advances on the role of microRNAs in the regulation of stem cell properties and cancer stem cells in different tumors. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.