The roles of miRNA-143 in colon cancer and therapeutic implications

Activation of multiple signal pathways is necessary for cancer initiation, maintenance and metastasis. MiRNA-143 can regulate several signal pathways and decreased miRNA-143 is associated with many cancers including colon cancer. In this review, we summarise the role of miRNA-143 in colon cancer and therapeutic implications. Several studies have shown that miRNA-143 is reduced in colon cancer. This could result in activation of multiple signal pathways including PI3K/Akt, MAPK and HGF/MET as miRNA-143 acts on signal molecules Ras, Erk5, Akt and MCC1 to reduce their translation. Introduction of miRNA-143 into colon cancer cells induced apoptosis and slower growth in a xenograft model. Therefore miRNA-143 could be developed for the treatment of colon cancer. Molecular markers to identify the suitable cases for the implication of miRNA-143 may be necessary to increase the response rate. We propose that obesity-associated cancer could be a good candidate as it is characterised by activation of multiple signal pathways that are targets of miRNA-143.