Objective: Breast cancer (BC) is the most significant and lethal type of cancer in women. Although there are many newly develop chemotherapy drugs for patients with BC treating at various stages, drug resistance is the most important obstacle in their effectiveness for BC treatment. On the other hand, microRNAs are considered key regulators of genes involved in carcinogenesis and chemoresistance in cancers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of miR-152-3p and miR-185 in intrinsic chemoresistance and proliferation of BC. In addition, the potential role of these miRNAs during chemoresistance was evaluated through possible signaling pathways.
Results: Here, miR-152-3p was significantly downregulated in tumor tissues compared to the corresponding margin tissues in patients with BC (p-value ≥ 0.04407 and fold change = - 2.0552). In contrast, no statistically significant difference was observed in the miR-185 expression between the two groups. Furthermore, no significant correlation was found between the expression of these two miRNAs and subfactors, including cancer family history, abortion, and age. Downregulation of miR-152-3p could be considered a promising regulator of BC chemoresistance.
Keywords: Breast cancer; Chemoresistance; Drug resistance; PI3K/AKT pathway; miR-152; microRNAs.