Assessment of the role of genetic variation in microRNAs on the susceptibility and physiopathology of Gastric Cancer

Varying incidence among regions depends on several factors such as Helicobacter pylori infection, environmental exposure and genetic background. GC is the result of a multifactorial complex process for which a multistep model of carcinogenesis is currently accepted.

The clinical outcome of GC is highly dependent on the local progression and metastasis development, which is partially controlled by oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, whose expression is further regulated by microRNAs (miRNAs). MiRNAs are non-protein-coding small RNAs that act as post-transcriptional gene repressors participating in the regulation of most biological processes. Several miRNAs have been found differentially expressed between tumor and normal tissues in GC, also circulating miRNAs in serum/plasma have been proposed as a novel class of non-invasive biomarkers with a great potential for early detection and prognostic of cancer.