MicroRNAs-mediated cell fate in triple negative breast cancers

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that function as major modulators of posttranscriptional protein-coding gene expression in diverse biological processes including cell survival, cell cycle arrest, senescence, autophagy, and differentiation. The control of miRNAs plays an important role in cancer initiation and metastasis. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a distinct breast cancer subtype, which is defined by the absence of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/neu). Due to its high recurrence rate and poor prognosis, TNBC represents a challenge for breast cancer therapy. In recent years, a large number of microRNAs have been identified to play a crucial role in TNBC and some of them were found to be correlated with worse prognosis of TNBC. Thus, understanding the novel function of miRNAs may allow us to develop promising therapeutic targets for the treatment of TNBC patients. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.