Role of microRNA Deregulation in Breast Cancer Cell Chemoresistance and Stemness

Studies with breast cancer cells, showed that microRNAs (miRNAs) act as regulators of signaling pathways playing a key role in tumor progression and being targeted in chemotherapy. Deregulation of these pathways by altered miRNA expression or single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) found in certain miRNA genes have been shown to lead tumor growth, metastasis, angiogenesis, and drug resistance. miRNAs have also been indicated to act on stem cell self-renewal and alter signal transduction in cancer stem-like cells (CSC), which are resistant to many conventional therapies and account for the inability of these therapies to cure cancers. By considering these findings, miRNAs are proposed as potential novel biomarkers as well as therapeutic targets in new anti-cancer strategies. In this review, the miRNAs found to be involved in breast cancer chemoresistance will be covered together with breast CSC and their contribution to chemotherapy resistance.