State of the art in microRNA as diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Early diagnostic is one of the most important steps in cancer therapy which helps to design and choose a better therapeutic approach. The finding of biomarkers in various levels including genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics levels could provide better treatment for various cancers such as chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The CLL is the one of main lymphoid malignancies which is specified by aggregation of mature B lymphocytes. Among different biomarkers (e.g., CD38, chromosomes abnormalities, ZAP-70, TP53, and microRNA [miRNA]), miRNAs have appeared as new diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers in patients with the CLL disease. Multiple lines of evidence indicated that deregulation of miRNAs could be associated with pathological events which are present in the CLL. These molecules have an effect on a variety of targets such as Bcl2, c-fos, c-Myc, TP53, TCL1, and STAT3 which play critical roles in the CLL pathogenesis. It has been shown that expression of miRNAs could lead to the activation of B cells and B cell antigen receptor (BCR). Moreover, exosomes containing miRNAs are one of the other molecules which could contribute to BCR stimulation and progression of CLL cells. Hence, miRNAs and exosomes released from CLL cells could be used as potential diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers for CLL. This critical review focuses on a very important aspect of CLL based on biomarker discovery covers the pros and cons of using miRNAs as important diagnostics and therapeutics biomarkers for this deadly disease.