MicroRNAs, chemotherapy resistance, and lung cancer

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21541180

J Biomed Biotechnol. 2011;2011:474632. Epub 2011 Mar 31.
MicroRNA Gene Dosage Alterations and Drug Response in Lung Cancer.
Enfield KS, Stewart GL, Pikor LA, Alvarez CE, Lam S, Lam WL, Chari R.
Source
British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, 675 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5Z 1L3.
Abstract
Chemotherapy resistance is a key contributor to the dismal prognoses for lung cancer patients. While the majority of studies have focused on sequence mutations and expression changes in protein-coding genes, recent reports have suggested that microRNA (miRNA) expression changes also play an influential role in chemotherapy response. However, the role of genetic alterations at miRNA loci in the context of chemotherapy response has yet to be investigated. In this study, we demonstrate the application of an integrative, multidimensional approach in order to identify miRNAs that are associated with chemotherapeutic resistance and sensitivity utilizing publicly available drug response, miRNA loci copy number, miRNA expression, and mRNA expression data from independent resources. By instigating a logical stepwise strategy, we have identified specific miRNAs that are associated with resistance to several chemotherapeutic agents and provide a proof of principle demonstration of how these various databases may be exploited to derive relevant pharmacogenomic results.