Targeting Cancer Stem Cell-Related miRNAs for Prostate Cancer Therapy

Prostate cancer (PCa), a multifocal disease and one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in the world. An important challenge in prostate cancer therapy is the transition from androgen-sensitive to castration-resistant and metastatic prostate cancer. Recent evidences indicate that epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer stem cells (CSCs) play crucial roles in the development of castration-resistance and metastasis of prostate cancer. However, the regulation of CSCs and the involved signaling pathways during tumorigenesis are not well understood. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are known to act as key regulators of the posttranscriptional regulation of genes, thus controlling a wide array of biological processes including tumorigenesis. The altered expressions of miRNAs have been associated with poor clinical outcome of patients in a variety of tumors. Therefore, emerging evidence strongly suggest that miRNAs play critical roles in tumor development and progression and also suggest that miRNAs participate in the regulation of tumor cell growth, migration, invasion, angiogenesis, drug resistance, and metastasis. Thus identification of signature miRNA associated with EMT and targeting CSCs-related miRNAs would likely lead to the inhibition of tumor growth thereby providing a novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment and/or prevention of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) in the future.