Figure 3.

Potential clinical utility of EBV-encoded miRNAs. BART13-3p could aid in the detection of preclinical NPC, a cancer, which often presents late and when advanced, is associated with poor prognosis. In NKTL, which is characterized by early invasion and metastasis, miR-BART2-5p may have a role as diagnostic and predictive biomarker with the potential to identify those likely to respond to therapy. Identification of the risk of recurrence after potentially curative resection in patients with gastric cancer remains a priority; BART20-5p levels in EBVaGC might be useful in predicting recurrence free survival. Finally, rapidly emerging mRNA therapeutic technologies can be adopted to inhibit or mimic the action of miRNAs with oncogenic or tumor suppressive roles, respectively.