PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Anita Thyagarajan AU - Ahmed Shaban AU - Ravi P Sahu TI - MiRNA directed cancer therapies: Implications in melanoma intervention AID - 10.1124/jpet.117.242636 DP - 2017 Jan 01 TA - Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics PG - jpet.117.242636 4099 - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/early/2017/10/20/jpet.117.242636.short 4100 - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/early/2017/10/20/jpet.117.242636.full AB - Acquired tumor resistance to cancer therapies pose major challenges in the treatment of cancers including melanoma. Among several signaling pathways or factors that affect neocarcinogenesis, cancer progression and therapies, altered microRNAs (miRNAs) expression has been identified as crucial players in modulating the key pathways governing these events. While studies on miRNA field has grown exponentially in the last decade, much remains to be discovered, particularly with respect to their roles in cancer therapies. As immune and non-immune signaling cascades prevail in cancers, identification and evaluation of miRNAs, their molecular mechanisms and cellular targets involved in underlying development of cancers as well as acquired therapeutic resistance would help in devising new strategies for the prognosis, treatment and an early detection of recurrence. Importantly, an in-depth validation of miRNAs-targeted molecular events could lead to the development of an accurate progression-risk biomarkers, improved effectiveness as well as patient's responses to standard therapies. The current review focuses on the roles of miRNAs with recent updates including on its regulated cell cycle and proliferation, immune responses, oncogenic/epigenetic signaling pathways, invasion, metastasis and apoptosis with broader attention on melanomagenesis and melanoma therapies.