Biological Relationships between miRNAs used for Colorectal Cancer Screening

MicroRNAs have been proposed to function as biomarkers in several disorders including cancer. Particularly, those present in plasma samples have been validated for colon cancer screening purposes. However, mechanisms underlying miRNA regulating CRC development have not been fully investigated yet. The aim of this study was to perform a biological contextualization of a particular 6 miRNAs signature (Hsa-miR-15b-5p, Hsa-miR-18a-5p, Hsa-miR-29a-3p, Hsa-miR335-5p, Hsa-miR-19a-3p and Hsa-miR-19b-3p) already described as CRC screening tool in terms of its downstream targets and associated pathways, to understand how this set of miRNAs could be regulating colon cancer development. Our results demonstrated that Hsa-miR-15b-5p, Hsa-miR-18a-5p and HsamiR-29a-3p are the best contributors to the diagnostic value of the signature by regulating epithelial to mesenchymal transformation though a gained balance of inhibiting tumoral suppressors genes such as ETS2, TP53, TLE3, ACVR2A.