Growth of malignant extracranial tumors alters microRNAome in the prefrontal cortex of TumorGraft mice.

Growth of malignant extracranial tumors alters microRNAome in the prefrontal cortex of TumorGraft mice. Oncotarget. 2017 Oct 24;8(51):88276-88293 Authors: Kovalchuk A, Ilnytskyy Y, Rodriguez-Juarez R, Katz A, Sidransky D, Kolb B, Kovalchuk O Abstract A wide array of central nervous system complications, neurological deficits, and cognitive impairments occur and persist as a result of systemic cancer and cancer treatments. This condition is known as chemo brain and it affects over half of cancer survivors. Recent studies reported that cognitive impairments manifest before chemotherapy and are much broader than chemo brain alone, thereby adding in tumor brain as a component. The molecular mechanisms of chemo brain are under-investigated, and the mechanisms of tumor brain have not been analyzed at all. The frequency and timing, as well as the long-term persistence, of chemo brain and tumor brain suggest they may be epigenetic in nature. MicroRNAs, small, single-stranded non-coding RNAs, constitute an important part of the cellular epigenome and are potent regulators of gene expression. miRNAs are crucial for brain development and function, and are affected by a variety of different stresses, diseases and conditions. However, nothing is known about the effects of extracranial tumor growth or chemotherapy agents on the brain microRNAome. We used the well-established TumorGraft ™ mouse models of triple negative (TNBC) and progesterone re...
Source: Oncotarget - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Oncotarget Source Type: research