Ovarian Cancer: Interplay of Vitamin D Signaling and miRNA Action

Abstract

Increasing attention is being devoted to the mechanisms by which cells receive signals and then translatethese into decisions for growth, death, or migration. Recent findings have presented significant breakthroughsin developing a deeper understanding of the activation or repression of target genes and proteins in response tovarious stimuli and of how they are assembled during signal transduction in cancer cells. Detailed mechanisticinsights have unveiled new maps of linear and integrated signal transduction cascades, but the multifaceted natureof the pathways remains unclear. Although new layers of information are being added regarding mechanismsunderlying ovarian cancer and how polymorphisms in VDR gene influence its development, the findings of thisresearch must be sequentially collected and re-interpreted. We divide this multi-component review into differentsegments: how vitamin D modulates molecular network in ovarian cancer cells, how ovarian cancer is controlledby tumor suppressors and oncogenic miRNAs and finally how vitamin D signaling regulates miRNA expression.Intra/inter-population variability is insufficiently studied and a better understanding of genetics of populationwill be helpful in getting a step closer to personalized medicine.