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Santoni et al. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2020;6:22 Journal of Cancer
DOI: 10.20517/2394-4722.2020.49 Metastasis and Treatment

Review Open Access

Cross-talk between microRNAs, long non-coding
RNAs and p21 Cip1 in glioma: diagnostic, prognostic

and therapeutic roles

Giorgio Santoni , Maria Beatrice Morelli , Massimo Nabissi , Federica Maggi , Oliviero Marinelli , Matteo
1,2
1
1
1
1
Santoni , Consuelo Amantini 4
3
1 School of Pharmacy, University of Camerino, Camerino 62032, Italy.
2 Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Rome Sapienza, Rome 00161, Italy.
3 Medical Oncology Unit, Hospital of Macerata, Macerata 62100, Italy.
4 School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Camerino, Camerino 62032, Italy.
Correspondence to: Prof. Giorgio Santoni, School of Pharmacy, University of Camerino, via Madonna delle Carceri 9, Camerino
62032, Italy. E-mail: giorgio.santoni@unicam.it
How to cite this article: Santoni G, Morelli MB, Nabissi M, Maggi F, Marinelli O, Santoni M, Amantini C. Cross-talk between
microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs and p21 Cip1 in glioma: diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic roles. J Cancer Metastasis Treat
2020;6:22. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-4722.2020.49

Received: 22 May 2020 First Decision: 10 Jun 2020 Revised: 23 Jun 2020 Accepted: 2 Jul 2020 Published: 30 Jul 2020
Academic Editor: Giuseppe Lombardi Copy Editor: Cai-Hong Wang Production Editor: Jing Yu

Abstract
Glioblastoma multiforme is considered one of the most common malignant primary intracranial tumors. Despite
treatment with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, patients with glioblastoma multiform
have poor prognosis. It has been widely accepted that the occurrence, progression, and even recurrence of
glioblastoma multiforme strictly depends on the presence of glioma cancer stem cells. The presence of glioma
stem cells reduces the efficacy of standard therapies, thus increasing the imperative to identify new targets
and therapeutic strategies in glioblastoma patients. In this regard, the p21 Cip1 pathway has been found to play an
important role in the maintenance of the glioma stem cells. It has been shown that this pathway regulates cancer
stem cell pool by preventing hyperproliferation and exhaustion. MicroRNAs, endogenous small non-coding RNAs,
and long non-coding RNAs, regulate post-transcription gene expression. These are not only altered in glioma, but
also in other cancer types, and are involved in tumor development and progression. Notably, they have also been
shown to modulate the expression of proteins in the p21 Cip1 signaling pathway. This review highlights the extent and
complexity of cross-talk between microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs and the p21 Cip1 pathway, and demonstrates
how such interplay orchestrates the regulation of protein expression and functions in glioma and glioma stem cells.

Keywords: Glioma, microRNA, long non-coding RNA, p21 Cip1 , glioma stem cells

© The Author(s) 2020. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,
and indicate if changes were made.

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