Cancer stem cells biomarkers discovery for colorectal cancerThe role of miRNAs

Abstract

Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancer diseases in the world. This condition remains silent for up to twenty years and its early detection is linked to a good prognosis. Cancer stem cells (CSCs), a small group of cells present in the tumor mass, play an important role in the CRC, being linked to a worse prognosis, its metastatic dissemination, relapses and therapeutic resistance. Expanding molecular tools to better understand and detect CSCs could improve the arsenal in the fight against CRC. For this purpose, a group of molecules particularly interesting are the microRNAs (miRNAs), small sequences (19-22 nt) of RNA with a regulatory function in organisms, whose alterations are linked to a large number of pathologies, including CRC. This context represents the focus of the present doctoral work, which uses a multidisciplinary approach, involving in silico, in vitro and ex vivo models, to analyse and characterize the levels of expression of some miRNAs involved in the CSC pathways and in relation to CRC staging.