Abstract:

Globally, the morbidity and mortality of cervical cancer are ranked fourth among female malignancies, seriously threatening women′s health, so early diagnosis and treatment are very important. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non coding endogenous small RNAs about 21-25 nucleotides in length, and a large number of studies have now revealed that miRNAs have important roles in multiple regulatory pathways in the human body, including the control of cell differentiation, apoptosis, proliferation as well as tumor development. It exerts its biological functions mainly through base binding to the 3′- untranslated region (3′-UTR) of target mRNAs, thereby regulating the expression of genes at the post transcriptional level. Therefore, miRNAs become a new hotspot in tumor research at the moment. At present, several studies have found that miR-144 is aberrantly expressed in many malignancies and plays an important role as well. In cervical cancer, miR-144 expression is downregulated, and it promotes the occurrence and development of cervical cancer, which is expected to be a biomarker for the early diagnosis of cervical cancer; meanwhile, studies have confirmed that miR-144 is involved in regulating the sensitivity of cervical cancer to chemoradiotherapy, which is expected to be a potential therapeutic target for cervical cancer. In this review, we summarize the biological functions of miR-144 and its roles and molecular mechanisms in cervical cancer.

Key words: MiRNA-144, MicroRNAs, Uterine cervical neoplasms, Cell proliferation, Metastasis and invasion, Biomarkers,tumor, Drug resistance,neoplasm