TABLE 2.
Role of miRNAs in regulation of CSCs in hepatocellular carcinoma (ANTs, adjacent non-cancerous tissues; HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma).
| microRNA | Samples | Cell lines | Target | Function | References |
| miR-206 | Tissue samples of HCC (n = 40) | Liver cancer stem cells (CSCs), Huh7, HepG2, Hep3B, CSQT-2, PLC, HCCLM3, L02 | EGFR, CD133, Nanog, Sox-2, OCT4, c-Myc, Bmi-1, β-catenin, PARP | miR-206 by targeting EGFR could suppress liver CSCs expansion. | Liu et al., 2020 |
| miR-192-5p | Mouse/Human; HCC Cohort 1 (n = 241), Cohort 2 (n = 372), Cohort 3 (n = 53) | HuH1, HuH7, Hep3B, SK-Hep1, HLE, HLF, 293T | PABPC4, CD133, EpCAM, CD44, CD24, CD90, UGT2B7, GSTA1, CYP1A2 | miR-192-5p by targeting PABPC4, and genetic aberrations could suppress the CSC-related features in HCC. | Gu et al., 2019 |
| miR-500a-3p | Mouse/Human; 8 pairs of cancerous and ANTs | 97H, HepG2, QGY-7703, Hep 3B, PLC, Huh 7, SMMC7721, L02 | SOCS2, SOCS4, SOCS6, PTPN11, PTPN4, JAK/STAT3 | miR-500a-3p via STAT3 pathway could promote cancer stem cells properties in HCC. | Jiang et al., 2017a |
| miR-125, miR-125b | HCC (n = 6) | TAMs, Huh7, HepG2, BEL-7404 | CD90, CD81, CD63, CD44, MMP9, Snail1 | miR-125a/b-mediated down-regulation of CD90 has essential effects in CSCs of HCC. | Ge et al., 2019 |
| miR-613 | Mouse/Human | Huh7, HCCLM3 | SOX9, PARP | miR-613 by targeting SOX9 could inhibit liver CSCs expansion and HCC cell dedifferentiation. | Li et al., 2019 |
| miR-217 | Mouse/Human/TCGA database; 6 pairs of cancerous and ANTs | 97H, HepG2, QGY-7703, Hep3B, PLC, Huh7, SMMC7721, L02 | DKK1, P84, NANOG, BMI-1, OCT4, SOX2, WNT | miR-217 by targeting DKK1 via activating the Wnt pathway could increase CSC properties in HCC. | Jiang et al., 2017b |
| miR-194 | Mouse/Human; 110 pairs of cancerous and ANTs | Huh7, HCCLM3, LM3, PLC, hepG2, hep3B, 97L, 97H, Human primary hepatoma cells | RAC1, PARP, MKK4, P38, N-cadherin, HBEGF, PTPN12 | miR-194 by regulating RAC1 could suppress expansion of CSCs. | Ran et al., 2019 |
| miR-494 | Mouse/Human; Tumor and cirrhotic tissues (n = 75) | Huh7, HepG2, SNU449, SNU182 | p27, PTEN, Sox2, DNMT3B, OCT4, CDKN2B, BBC3, PROM1, Caspase-3, PARP, AKT/mTOR | miR-494 via AKT/mTOR pathway could regulate stem-cell phenotype and increases sorafenib resistance in HCC. | Pollutri et al., 2018 |
| miR-296-5p | Mouse/Human; 89 pairs of cancerous and ANTs | MHCC97H, Huh7 | Brg1, Sall4, EpCAM, CD90, Nanog, Sox2, Klf4, Oct4 | miR-296-5p via the Brg1/Sall4 axis could inhibit stem cell potency of HCC cells. | Shi et al., 2020 |