Circulating microRNAs as potential cancer biomarkers: the advantage and disadvantage

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Abstract

MicroRNAs are endogenous single-stranded non-coding small RNA molecules that can be secreted into the circulation and exist stably. They usually exhibit aberrant expression under different physiological and pathological conditions. Recently, differentially expressed circulating microRNAs were focused on as potential biomarkers for cancer screening. We herein review the role of circulating microRNAs for cancer diagnosis, tumor subtype classification, chemo- or radio-resistance monitoring, and outcome prognosis. Moreover, circulating microRNAs still have several issues hindering their reliability for the practical clinical application. Future studies need to elucidate further potential application of circulating microRNAs as specific and sensitive markers for clinical diagnosis or prognosis in cancers.

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MicroRNAs accurately identify cancer tissue origin.

Nitzan Rosenfeld, Ranit Aharonov, Eti Meiri … (2008)

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) belong to a class of noncoding, regulatory RNAs that is involved in oncogenesis and shows remarkable tissue specificity. Their potential for tumor classification suggests they may be used in identifying the tissue in which cancers of unknown primary origin arose, a major clinical problem. We measured miRNA expression levels in 400 paraffin-embedded and fresh-frozen samples from 22 different tumor tissues and metastases. We used miRNA microarray data of 253 samples to construct a transparent classifier based on 48 miRNAs. Two-thirds of samples were classified with high confidence, with accuracy >90%. In an independent blinded test-set of 83 samples, overall high-confidence accuracy reached 89%. Classification accuracy reached 100% for most tissue classes, including 131 metastatic samples. We further validated the utility of the miRNA biomarkers by quantitative RT-PCR using 65 additional blinded test samples. Our findings demonstrate the effectiveness of miRNAs as biomarkers for tracing the tissue of origin of cancers of unknown primary origin.

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Colorectal cancer screening: An updated review of the available options

Iyad A Issa, Malak Noureddine (2017)

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. However, colon cancer incidence and mortality is declining over the past decade owing to adoption of effective screening programs. Nevertheless, in some parts of the world, CRC incidence and mortality remain on the rise, likely due to factors including “westernized” diet, lifestyle, and lack of health-care infrastructure and resources. Participation and adherence to different national screening programs remain obstacles limiting the achievement of screening goals. Different modalities are available ranging from stool based tests to radiology and endoscopy with varying sensitivity and specificity. However, the availability of these tests is limited to areas with high economic resources. Recently, FDA approved a blood-based test (Epi procolon®) for CRC screening. This blood based test may serve to increase the participation and adherence rates. Hence, leading to increase in colon cancer detection and prevention. This article will discuss various CRC screening tests with a particular focus on the data regarding the new approved blood test. Finally, we will propose an algorithm for a simple cost-effective CRC screening program.

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Eugene Berezikov, Wei-Jen Chung, Jason Willis … (2007)

Mirtrons are alternative precursors for microRNA biogenesis that were recently described in invertebrates. These short hairpin introns use splicing to bypass Drosha cleavage, which is otherwise essential for the generation of canonical animal microRNAs. Using computational and experimental strategies, we now establish that mammals have mirtrons as well. We identified 3 mirtrons that are well conserved and expressed in diverse mammals, 16 primate-specific mirtrons, and 46 candidates supported by limited cloning evidence in primates. As with some fly and worm mirtrons, the existence of well-conserved mammalian mirtrons indicates their relatively ancient incorporation into endogenous regulatory pathways. However, as worms, flies, and mammals each have different sets of mirtrons, we hypothesize that different animals may have independently evolved the capacity for this hybrid small RNA pathway. This notion is supported by our observation of several clade-specific features of mammalian and invertebrate mirtrons.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Zelian Qin: qinzl@bjmu.edu.cn

Lixiang Xue: lixiangxue@hsc.pku.edu.cn

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Clin Epigenetics

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Clin Epigenetics

Title: Clinical Epigenetics

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Print): 1868-7075

ISSN (Electronic): 1868-7083

Publication date (Electronic): 23 April 2018

Publication date PMC-release: 23 April 2018

Publication date Collection: 2018

Volume: 10

Electronic Location Identifier: 59

Affiliations

[1 ]ISNI 0000 0004 0605 3760, GRID grid.411642.4, Medical Research Center, , Peking University Third Hospital, ; Beijing, China

[2 ]ISNI 0000 0004 0605 3760, GRID grid.411642.4, Department of Radiation Oncology, , Peking University Third Hospital, ; Beijing, China

Article

Publisher ID: 492

DOI: 10.1186/s13148-018-0492-1

PMC ID: 5913875

PubMed ID: 29713393

SO-VID: f113161f-4e8d-48ce-b596-e9881e9a2b9d

License:

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

History

Date received : 23 January 2018

Date accepted : 10 April 2018

Funding

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001809, National Natural Science Foundation of China;

Award ID: 91749107

Award ID: 81672091

Award Recipient : Lixiang Xue

Funded by: Beijing Natural Science Foundation

Award ID: 7172232

Award Recipient : Lixiang Xue

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Genetics

Keywords: cancer,circulating microrna,biomarker,diagnosis,prognosis

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Genetics

Keywords: cancer, circulating microrna, biomarker, diagnosis, prognosis

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Circulating microRNAs as potential cancer biomarkers: the advantage and disadvantage

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Karger: Oncology

Most cited references 76

MicroRNAs accurately identify cancer tissue origin.

Colorectal cancer screening: An updated review of the available options

Mammalian mirtron genes.

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Cited by 197

Most referenced authors 10,713