MicroRNA and metadherin levels controls resistance of breast cancer cells

Treatment of breast cancer patients can fail because cancer cells develop resistance to drugs like tamoxifen. Dr. Stefan Wiemann of German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and colleagues conducted a study to understand the development of breast cancer cells when dosed with tamoxifen. They observed that the lack of minuscule RNA snippets, particularly microRNA 375, which controls cellular processes, causes an increase in malignancy and development of resistance against tamoxifen. In addition, they discovered that the metadherin levels of cancer cells increase when microRNA 375 decreases, which increases the risk of recurrence in these cancer cells. They have concluded that microRNA 375 and metadherin levels control the development of resistance to tamoxifen.