Clinical Implications of MicroRNAs in Lung Cancer

Lung cancer still represents a very deadly disease in strong need of new, effective, therapeutic approaches. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) represent a new category of noncoding RNAs with gene expression regulatory functions. Several studies have shown that miRNAs are frequently deregulated in lung cancer patients with respect to healthy individuals. These aberrations of the miRNome (defined as the full spectrum of miRNAs in a given genome) occur at several levels, including primary tumors and patient body fluids (such as blood and sputum), suggesting that miRNAs can be effectively used as biological markers with diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive implications. This review focuses on these translational aspects of research on the field of miRNAs and lung cancer.