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      MicroRNAs as Potential Biomarkers in Cancer: Opportunities and Challenges

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          Abstract

          MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a group of small noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) that posttranscriptionally regulate gene expression by targeting their corresponding messenger RNAs (mRNAs). Dysregulated miRNAs have been considered as a new type of ‘‘oncomiRs” or ‘‘tumor suppressors,” playing essential roles in cancer initiation and progression. Using genome-wide detection methods, ubiquitously aberrant expression profiles of miRNAs have been identified in a broad array of human cancers, showing great potential as novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of cancer with high specificity and sensitivity. The detectable miRNAs in tissue, blood, and other body fluids with high stability provide an abundant source for miRNA-based biomarkers in human cancers. Despite the fact that an increasing number of potential miRNA biomarkers have been reported, the transition of miRNAs-based biomarkers from bench to bedside still necessitates addressing several challenges. In this review, we will summarize our current understanding of miRNAs as potential biomarkers in human cancers.

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          Exosomal microRNA: a diagnostic marker for lung cancer.

          Guilherme Rabinowits, Cicek Gercel-Taylor, Jamie Day … (2009)
          To date, there is no screening test for lung cancer shown to affect overall mortality. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small noncoding RNA genes found to be abnormally expressed in several types of cancer, suggesting a role in the pathogenesis of human cancer. We evaluated the circulating levels of tumor exosomes, exosomal small RNA, and specific exosomal miRNAs in patients with and without lung adenocarcinoma, correlating the levels with the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) disease stage to validate it as an acceptable marker for diagnosis and prognosis in patients with adenocarcinoma of the lung. To date, 27 patients with lung adenocarcinoma AJCC stages I-IV and 9 controls, all aged 21-80 years, were enrolled in the study. Small RNA was detected in the circulating exosomes. The mean exosome concentration was 2.85 mg/mL (95% CI, 1.94-3.76) for the lung adenocarcinoma group versus 0.77 mg/mL (95% CI, 0.68-0.86) for the control group (P < .001). The mean miRNA concentration was 158.6 ng/mL (95% CI, 145.7-171.5) for the lung adenocarcinoma group versus 68.1 ng/mL (95% CI, 57.2-78.9) for the control group (P < .001). Comparisons between peripheral circulation miRNA-derived exosomes and miRNA-derived tumors indicated that the miRNA signatures were not significantly different. The significant difference in total exosome and miRNA levels between lung cancer patients and controls, and the similarity between the circulating exosomal miRNA and the tumor-derived miRNA patterns, suggest that circulating exosomal miRNA might be useful as a screening test for lung adenocarcinoma. No correlation between the exosomal miRNA levels and the stage of disease can be made at this point.
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            Human microRNAs are processed from capped, polyadenylated transcripts that can also function as mRNAs.

            Xuezhong Cai, Curt H. Hagedorn, Bryan R. Cullen (2004)
            The factors regulating the expression of microRNAs (miRNAs), a ubiquitous family of approximately 22-nt noncoding regulatory RNAs, remain undefined. However, it is known that miRNAs are first transcribed as a largely unstructured precursor, termed a primary miRNA (pri-miRNA), which is sequentially processed in the nucleus, to give the approximately 65-nt pre-miRNA hairpin intermediate, and then in the cytoplasm, to give the mature miRNA. Here we have sought to identify the RNA polymerase responsible for miRNA transcription and to define the structure of a full-length human miRNA. We show that the pri-miRNA precursors for nine human miRNAs are both capped and polyadenylated and report the sequence of the full-length, approximately 3433-nt pri-miR-21 RNA. This pri-miR-21 gene sequence is flanked 5' by a promoter element able to transcribe heterologous mRNAs and 3' by a consensus polyadenylation sequence. Nuclear processing of pri-miRNAs was found to be efficient, thus largely preventing the nuclear export of full-length pri-miRNAs. Nevertheless, an intact miRNA stem-loop precursor located in the 3' UTR of a protein coding gene only moderately inhibited expression of the linked open reading frame, probably because the 3' truncated mRNA could still be exported and expressed. Together, these data show that human pri-miRNAs are not only structurally similar to mRNAs but can, in fact, function both as pri-miRNAs and mRNAs.
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              MicroRNA expression patterns to differentiate pancreatic adenocarcinoma from normal pancreas and chronic pancreatitis.

              Mark Bloomston, Wendy Frankel, Fabio Petrocca … (2007)
              While global microRNA (miRNA) expression patterns of many embryologic, physiologic, and oncogenic processes have been described, description of the role of miRNAs in ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas is lacking. To define the expression pattern of miRNAs in pancreatic cancer and compare it with those of normal pancreas and chronic pancreatitis. Specimens were obtained at a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center from patients with ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas (n = 65) or chronic pancreatitis (n = 42) (January 2000-December 2005). All patients underwent curative pancreatectomy; those with pancreatic cancer were chemotherapy-naive. RNA harvested from resected pancreatic cancers and matched benign adjacent pancreatic tissue as well as from chronic pancreatitis specimens was hybridized to miRNA microarrays. Identification of differentially expressed miRNAs that could differentiate pancreatic cancer from normal pancreas, chronic pancreatitis, or both, as well as a pattern of miRNA expression predictive of long-term (>24 months) survival. Significance of Analysis of Microarrays and Prediction of Analysis of Microarrays were undertaken to identify miRNAs predictive of tissue type and prognosis. P values were calculated by t test, adjusted for multiple testing. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were constructed using mean miRNA expression (high vs low) as threshold and compared by log-rank analysis. Twenty-one miRNAs with increased expression and 4 with decreased expression were identified that correctly differentiated pancreatic cancer from benign pancreatic tissue in 90% of samples by cross validation. Fifteen overexpressed and 8 underexpressed miRNAs differentiated pancreatic cancer from chronic pancreatitis with 93% accuracy. A subgroup of 6 miRNAs was able to distinguish long-term survivors with node-positive disease from those dying within 24 months. Finally, high expression of miR-196a-2 was found to predict poor survival (median, 14.3 months [95% confidence interval, 12.4-16.2] vs 26.5 months [95% confidence interval, 23.4-29.6]; P = .009). Pancreatic cancer may have a distinct miRNA expression pattern that may differentiate it from normal pancreas and chronic pancreatitis. miRNA expression patterns may be able to distinguish between long- and short-term survivors, but these findings need to be validated in other study populations.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Biomed Res Int
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Biomed Res Int
                Journal ID (publisher-id): BMRI
                Title: BioMed Research International
                Publisher: Hindawi Publishing Corporation
                ISSN (Print): 2314-6133
                ISSN (Electronic): 2314-6141
                Publication date (Print): 2015
                Publication date (Electronic): 22 March 2015
                Volume: 2015
                Electronic Location Identifier: 125094
                Affiliations
                1Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Institute of Clinical Science, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310020, China
                2Department of Medical Oncology, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310020, China
                Author notes
                *Hongchuan Jin: jinhc@ 123456zju.edu.cn

                Academic Editor: Francesco Nicassio

                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7925-0066
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6697-3097
                Article
                DOI: 10.1155/2015/125094
                PMC ID: 4385606
                PubMed ID: 25874201
                SO-VID: 32708639-5fbb-4a9d-a6a4-2a2cd116804e
                Copyright © Copyright © 2015 Huiyin Lan et al.
                License:

                This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                Date received : 6 June 2014
                Date accepted : 5 September 2014
                Categories
                Subject: Review Article

                Data availability:

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