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 translate these into decisions for growth, death, or migration. Recent findings have presented significant breakthroughs in developing a deeper understanding of the activation or repression of target genes and proteins in response to various stimuli and of how they are assembled during signal transduction in cancer cells. Detailed mechanistic insights have unveiled new maps of linear and integrated signal transduction cascades, but the multifaceted nature of the pathways remains unclear. Although new layers of information are being added regarding mechanisms underlying ovarian cancer and how polymorphisms in VDR gene influence its development, the findings of this research must be sequentially collected and re-interpreted. We divide this multi-component review into different segments: how vitamin D modulates molecular network in ovarian cancer cells, how ovarian cancer is controlled by 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 population will be helpful in getting a step closer to personalized medicine.