Serum microRNAs are emerging as a clinically useful tool for early and non-invasive detection of various cancer types including renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Based on our previous results, we performed the study to analyze circulating serum miR-378 and miR-210 in patients with various histological subtypes of RCC. RNA was purified from blood serum samples of 195 RCC patients and 100 healthy controls. The levels of miR-378 and miR-210 in serum were determined absolutely using quantitative real-time PCR. Pre- and postoperative levels of both microRNAs were compared in 20 RCC patients. Significantly increased serum levels of both miR-378 and miR-210 enabled to clearly distinguish RCC patients and healthy controls with 80% sensitivity and 78% specificity if analyzed in combination (p < 0.0001), and their levels significantly decreased in the time period of three months after radical nephrectomy (p < 0.0001). Increased level of miR-378 positively correlates with disease-free survival (p = 0.036) and clinical stage (p = 0.0476). The analysis of serum miR-378 and miR-210 proved their potential to serve as powerful non-invasive diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in RCC.

piR-823 is down-regulated in tumor tissue, but positively correlated with worse outcome, indicating its complex role in RCC pathogenesis. In blood serum, piR-823 is up-regulated, but with unsatisfactory analytical performance. Preliminary data indicate the promising diagnostic utility of urinary piR-823 in patients with RCC.

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Long non-coding RNA TUG1 is involved in the development and progression of a variety of tumors. Little is known about TUG1 function in high-grade muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). The aims of our study were to determine expression levels of long non-coding RNA TUG1 in tumor tissue, to evaluate its relationship with clinico-pathological features of high-grade MIBC, and to describe its function in MIBC cells in vitro. TUG1 expression levels were determined in paired tumor and adjacent non-tumor bladder tissues of 47 patients with high-grade MIBC using real-time PCR. Cell line T-24 and siRNA silencing were used to study the TUG1 function in vitro. We observed significantly increased levels of TUG1 in tumor tissue in comparison to adjacent non-tumor bladder tissue (P < 0.0001). TUG1 levels were significantly increased in metastatic tumors (P = 0.0147) and were associated with shorter overall survival of MIBC patients (P = 0.0241). TUG1 silencing in vitro led to 34 % decrease in cancer cell proliferation (P = 0.0004) and 23 % reduction in migration capacity of cancer cells (P < 0.0001). We did not observe any significant effects of TUG1 silencing on cell cycle distribution and number of apoptotic cells. Our study confirmed overexpression of TUG1 in MIBC tumor tissue and described its association with worse overall survival in high-grade MIBC patients. Together with in vitro observations, these data suggest an oncogenic role of TUG1 and its potential usage as biomarker or therapeutic target in MIBC.

IntroductionUrinary microRNAs (miRNAs) are emerging as a clinically useful tool for early and non-invasive detection of various types of cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether let-7 family miRNAs differ in their urinary concentrations between renal cell carcinoma (RCC) cases and healthy controls.Materials and methodsIn the case-control study, 69 non-metastatic clear-cell RCC patients and 36 gender/age-matched healthy controls were prospectively enrolled. Total RNA was purified from cell-free supernatant of the 105 first morning urine specimens. Let-7 family miRNAs were determined in cell-free supernatant using quantitative miRNA real-time reverse-transcription PCR and absolute quantification approach.ResultsConcentrations of all let-7 miRNAs (let-7a, let-7b, let-7c, let-7d, let-7e and let-7g) were significantly higher in urine samples obtained from RCC patients compared to healthy controls (P < 0.001; P < 0.001; P = 0.005; P = 0.006; P = 0.015 and P = 0.002, respectively). Subsequent ROC analysis has shown that let-7a concentration possesses good ability to differentiate between cases and controls with area under curve being 0.8307 (sensitivity 71%, specificity 81%).ConclusionsWe have shown that let-7 miRNAs are abundant in the urine samples of patients with clear-cell RCC, and out of six let-7 family members, let-7a outperforms the others and presents promising non-invasive biomarker for the detection of RCC.