The role of micrornas in the cisplatin-and radio-resistance of cervical cancer

Cervical cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death among women world-wide. The chemotherapeutical agent cisplatin, a small platinum-based compound, is considered as the standard therapy for locally advanced cervical cancer or recurrent cancers, sometimes in combination with radiotherapy or other drugs. However, drug resistance and radio-resistance phenomena could reduce the life expectancy of cervical cancer patients. Resistance mechanisms are complex and often involve multiple cellular pathways in which microRNAs (miRNAs) play a fundamental role. MiRNAs are a class of endogenous non-coding small RNAs responsible for post-transcriptional gene regulation. Convincing evidence demonstrates that several deregulated miRNAs are im-portant regulators in the onset of drug and radioresistance in cervical cancer, thus underlying their potential applications in a clinical setting. In this review, we summarized the mechanisms by which miRNAs affect both cisplatin and radioresistance in cervical cancer. We also described the regula-tory loops between miRNAs and lncRNAs promoting drug resistance. Besides, we reported evidence for the role of miRNAs in sensitizing cancer cells to cisplatin-based chemotherapy, and pro-vided some suggestions for the development of new combined therapies for cervical cancer.