What is miR-375-3p and what does it do in cancer?

miR-375-3p is a microRNA that in healthy tissue plays regulatory roles in pancreatic beta-cell development and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. In cancer, particularly prostate cancer, miR-375-3p is dramatically overexpressed and has been shown to promote cancer-specific survival pathways. In prostate cancer, elevated miR-375 is associated with transition to castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) — the aggressive form that does not respond to androgen deprivation therapy. miR-375 targets several tumor suppressive and differentiation-associated genes including RASD1, HIF1AN, and others. It is also overexpressed in gastric, esophageal, and colorectal cancers. In the Yenos validation, miR-375-3p achieved 81.5% per-marker accuracy — the lowest of the three cancer biomarkers, but still substantially above random chance and complementary to the other two markers.