Clinical Significance of microRNA Polymorphisms and Expression Profiles in Oral Cancer Development

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNA) are potent regulators, controlling multiple biological processes, including cell growth, differentiation, cell death, development and immune responses. With emerging data supporting that miRNAs play a central role in gene dysregulation in human malignancies, unraveling the miRNA genetic variations in cancer is essential and critical if we want to develop better diagnostic and prognostic system for our patients. Oral cancer may have a unique miRNA profiles in different cancer sub-types, which in turn may play a critical role in cancer development, progression, and can therefore be useful for cancer diagnosis and prognosis. Based on our findings and reviewing current literature, this article presents some of the miRNA expression profiles of different cancer tumors to understand its functional relevance and its genetic polymorphism with the oral risk of cancer.