Towards Personalized Medicine: Non-Coding RNAs and Endometrial Cancer

Abstract

Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most frequent female cancer associated with excellent prognosis if diagnosed at an early stage. The risk factors on which clinical staging is based are constantly updated and genetic and epigenetic characteristics have recently been emerging as prognostic markers. The evidence shows that non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) play a fundamental role in various biological processes associated with the pathogenesis of EC and many of them also have a prognosis prediction function, of remarkable importance in defining the therapeutic and surveillance path of EC patients. Personalized medicine focuses on the continuous updating of risk factors that are identifiable early during the EC staging to tailor treatments to patients. This review aims to show a summary of the current classification systems and to encourage the integration of various risk factors, introducing the prognostic role of non-coding RNAs, to avoid aggressive therapies where not necessary and to treat and strictly monitor subjects at greater risk of relapse.

Fertility Sparing Treatments in Endometrial Cancer Patients: The Potential Role of the New Molecular Classification

“…Genetic and epigenetic features have been emerging among the prognostic markers of EC [8,68,69]. These could drive clinicians to better select patients for a tailored treatment, in terms of surgical procedures and adjuvant therapies [70,71].…”

Variances in the Expression of mRNAs and miRNAs Related to the Histaminergic System in Endometrioid Endometrial Cancer

“…It was confirmed that the deficiency in the expression of miRNA correlates with the changes of genes, both on the tissue level as well as circulating blood miRNA, which makes miRNA a potential diagnostic or prognostic biomarker in endometrioid endometrial cancer [ 37 ]. A detailed analysis of the relationship between ncRNA and endometrial cancer has recently been carried out by Piergientili et al [ 38 ] and Cavaliere et al [ 39 ]. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are RNA molecules that do not have an open reading frame.…”

“…Recent data confirm that changes in ncRNA expression can be used as prognostic markers in endometrial cancer. This is possible owing to the development of the next-generation sequencing (NGS) technique [ 38 , 39 ].…”

Fertility-Sparing Approach in Women Affected by Stage I and Low-Grade Endometrial Carcinoma: An Updated Overview

“…Moreover, ncRNAs can have also a diagnostic role. New insights propose a therapeutic marker role, helping in building an “epigenetic profile” [ 82 ]. Actually, various ncRNAs have been individualized as having a role in EC pathogenesis, and for which a functional characterization is available.…”