Role of MicroRNA in Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer is the commonest cancer affecting women worldwide especially in Asia. Several proteinaceous,genetic andepigenetic biomarkers areallied with the disease but their efficacy as vigorous and robust indicators of disease remains uncertain.The need to detectand differentiate aggressive from non-aggressive breast tumors at cellular level is being investigated.MicroRNAs seem to be a promising marker to identify the disease before it reaches aggressive level. MicroRNAs (miRNAs)are small 18-24 nucleotide RNAs which regulate the expression of approximately 30% of human genes. Their expression isfrequently deregulated in cancers. .miRNAshave been found in significantly large copy numbers in serum/plasma of cancerpatients. The stability of the serum miRNAs is not compromised even if the samples are treated with RNase or incubated atroom temperature over prolong periods or subjected to repeated freeze-thaw cycles. miRNAs that are breast cancer-specificcan therefore be employed as disease predicting biomarkers.Keywords:Breast cancer, Micro RNA, Role, Serum, Stability