A combination of circulating miRNAs for the early detection of ovarian cancer

Abstract

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of gynecologic cancer mortality, due to the difficulty of early detection. Current screening methods lack sufficient accuracy, and it is still challenging to propose a new early detection method that improves patient outcomes with less-invasiveness. Although many studies have suggested the utility of circulating microRNAs in cancer detection, their potential for early detection remains elusive. Here, we develop novel predictive models using a combination of 8 circulating serum miRNAs. This method was able to successfully distinguish ovarian cancer patients from healthy controls (area under the curve, 0.97; sensitivity, 0.92; and specificity, 0.91) and early-stage ovarian cancer from patients with benign tumors (0.91, 0.86 and 0.83, respectively). This method also enables subtype classification in 4 types of epithelial ovarian cancer. Furthermore, it is found that most of the 8 miRNAs were packaged in extracellular vesicles, including exosomes, derived from ovarian cancer cells, and they were circulating in murine blood stream. The circulating miRNAs described in this study may serve as biomarkers for ovarian cancer patients. Early detection and subtype determination prior to surgery are crucial for clinicians to design an effective treatment strategy for each patient, as is the goal of precision medicine.

Circulating miRNA panels for specific and early detection in bladder cancer

“…Therefore, circulating miRNA, so‐called extracellular miRNA, has garnered a great deal of attention as a novel target of liquid biopsy. Recently, we demonstrated the diagnostic potential of circulating miRNA in body fluids, such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer and bladder cancer . Several other research groups have performed large‐scale randomized controlled trials and confirmed the diagnostic value in independent research cohorts of bladder cancer …”

“…Recently, we demonstrated the diagnostic potential of circulating miRNA in body fluids, such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer and bladder cancer. [10][11][12] Several other research groups have performed large-scale randomized controlled trials and confirmed the diagnostic value in independent research cohorts of bladder cancer. 13,14 Here, we analyzed 972 serum samples, including 392 bladder cancer samples, 100 non-cancer control samples and 480 samples of other types of tumors, by performing a comprehensive miRNA microarray.…”

Highly Sensitive Circulating MicroRNA Panel for Accurate Detection of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Patients With Liver Disease

“…It was recently reported that miRNAs are stably detectable in body fluids, including blood saliva and urine; furthermore, at least some miRNAs are packaged into extracellular vesicles and play crucial roles in intercellular communication . Serum biomarkers are attractive targets for disease screening because less invasive procedures are used; findings have indicated that there are new methods for measuring miRNA levels in patient blood samples that could serve as a new diagnostic tool for cancer detection …”

Long Non-Coding RNA MAGI2-AS3 is a New Player with a Tumor Suppressive Role in High Grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma

“…Investigating along these lines, MAGI2-AS3 has been experimentally demonstrated to regulate the expression of three miRNAs-miR-15b-5p, miR-374a-5p, and miR-374b-5p that were previously associated with this lncRNA in other cancers [31][32][33]. It is indeed interesting to note that these three miRNAs that are upregulated in EOC [36] have been reported to have oncogenic roles in several other cancers [38,40,41,[49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58]. It should be mentioned that some miRNAs, for example miR-15b-5p, have been observed to have conflicting roles as both oncogenes and tumor suppressors [49,50,59].…”