MicroRNAs in Body Fluids: A More Promising Biomarker for Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the second most common cancer of the urinary system, accounting for approximately 10-15% of kidney cancers in the world. Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common RCC subtype with the highest mortality. Surgical resection or puncture of tumor tissue is still an important clinical treatment and diagnosis of ccRCC, but its high recurrence rate and poor prognosis often lead to the short survival period of patients. Hence, the development of novel molecular biomarkers is of great clinical importance. miRNAs are endogenous non-coding small RNAs with a length of 19-24 nt. A growing number of studies have reported that miRNAs, as proto-oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes, play a key role in the development of ccRCC and might be effective diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. In addition, miRNAs can also predict the efficacy of treatment drug, thus improving the accuracy of clinical medication. Furthermore, noninvasive detection of miRNAs or extracellular vesicles (EV) in body fluids has better convenience and repeatability, which shows remarkable advantages compared with tissue detection. In this review, we summarized the typical miRNAs reported in recent years and place emphasis on evaluating miRNAs in different body fluids to provide reference for the clinical diagnosis and prognosis of ccRCC in the future.

STEAP3 can predict the prognosis and shape the tumor microenvironment of clear cell renal cell carcinoma

“…Renal cell carcinoma includes renal clear cell carcinoma (ccRCC), renal papillary cell carcinoma, renal chromophobe cell carcinoma and other subtypes, of which ccRCC is the most common subtype (about 75% ~ 80%) with the most invasive and the worst prognosis (3). It is estimated that approximately 25% of ccRCC patients have distant metastases such as lung, liver, and bone at the time of initial diagnosis (4). Surgical resection is still the main treatment for primary ccRCC patients as it is not sensitive to chemotherapy and radiotherapy (5).…”

The Clinical and Molecular Features in the VHL Renal Cancers; Close or Distant Relatives with Sporadic Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma?

“…Therefore, to find a promising tool for microRNAs in VHL patients, one should consider if the underlined tissue molecular signatures could reflect or not the circulating ones. However, different studies elucidated that tissue-derived microRNAs could be also completely different from the circulating ones, especially in the bloodstream where different organs can excrete different microRNAs and at different levels [ 139 ]. While new clinical trials will better investigate these aspects, a possible partial solution could be offered by the already studied circulating microRNAs in sporadic ccRCC, due to the overlap between the tumoral histology of sporadic and VHL ccRCC.…”

A four-microRNA panel in serum may serve as potential biomarker for renal cell carcinoma diagnosis

“…Additionally, body fluids, such as serum or urine and plasma, could stably provide miRNAs. Consequently, miRNAs in serum have the latent capacity as a non-invasive tool for detecting tumor genesis ( 14 , 15 ).…”