MicroRNAs’ control of cancer cell dormancy

‘Dormancy’, in the context of carcinogenesis, is a biological phenomenon of decreased cancer cell proliferation and metabolism. In view of their ability to remain quiescent, cancer cells are able to avoid cell death induced by chemotherapeutic agents, and thereby give rise to tumor relapse at a later stage. Being a dynamic event, the dormant state is controlled by several epigenetic mechanisms, including the action of microRNAs. The present review highlights microRNAs that have been shown to be dysregulated in dormant cancer cells among different tumor types. MicroRNAs accomplish their control of cancer cell quiescence by targeting cell cycle regulators and signaling pathways involved in cell growth maintenance, including the AKT/phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway. MicroRNAs, as components of intercellular vesicles, enable interactions to occur between cancer cells and cells of the microenvironment, resulting in the cancer cells either acquiring the quiescent state or, oppositely, stimulating them to proliferate. Taken together, the evidence obtained to date has collectively confirmed the involvement of microRNAsin cancer cell dormancy. Modulation of the various processes may enable optimization of the treatment of metastatic tumors.