miRNA as biomarker in lung cancer

Abstract

Lung cancer has a high prevalence and mortality due to its late diagnosis and limited treatment, so it is essential to find biomarkers that allow a faster diagnosis and improve the survival of these patients. In this sense, biomarkers based on miRNAs have supposed a considerable advance. miRNAs, which are small RNA sequences, can regulate gene expression, so they play an essential role not only as a diagnostic biomarker but also as a therapeutic and prognostic one. Also, miRNA biomarkers can be obtained from liquid biopsies, which are less intrusive than lung biopsies, and have better accessibil-ity, safety and repeatability, which allows using those biomarkers both for diagnosis and monitoring of patients. In this review, we highlight the importance of miRNAs and collect the existing evidence of their relationship with lung cancer.