The microRNA signatures: aberrantly expressed miRNAs in prostate cancer

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short, non-coding, conserved, oligonucleotides that are regulatory in nature and are often dysregulated in many cancers including prostate cancer. Depending on the level of complementarity between the miRNA and mRNA target, they can either inhibit translation or degrade the target mRNA. MiRNAs expression is specific to the type of cancer, its stage and level of metastasis, making miRNAs potential stage-specific biomarkers of cancer. Recent research has shown that these miRNAs have the potential to be a diagnostic and prognostic non-invasive biomarker for various cancers including prostate cancer. Various miRNAs have been reported as novel biomarkers for prostate cancer therapy. However, there is inconsistency in the data reported and no overlapping expression pattern could be found. In this review, we have highlighted the most consistently reported dysregulated miRNAs in prostate cancer from the existing literature and discussed the currently available data on their role in regulating the hallmarks of prostate cancer. These four most consistently reported dysregulated miRNAs viz. miRNA-141, miRNA-375, miRNA-221 and miRNA-21 need to be further validated in terms of their regulatory potential in regulating various pathways important for prostate cancer management.

A novel combined miRNA and methylation marker panel (miMe) for prediction of prostate cancer outcome after radical prostatectomy

“…The prognostic potential demonstrated for miMe in the present work corroborate and expand on previous PC studies that have reported prognostic potential for the single miRNAs and DNA methylation candidate markers included in miMe . Due to the marked molecular heterogeneity of PC, prognostic multigene panels may perform better than individual markers.…”

“…The prognostic potential demonstrated for miMe in the present work corroborate and expand on previous PC studies that have reported prognostic potential for the single miRNAs and DNA methylation candidate markers included in miMe. [6][7][8]10,11 Due to the marked molecular heterogeneity of PC, prognostic multigene panels may perform better than individual markers. Currently, two commercial mRNA-based panels (Prolaris ® and Decipher ® ) are available to help guide post-RP treatment decisions, 21 but the tests are expensive and may not work reliably on FFPE tissue samples where mRNA can be severely degraded.…”

“…Aberrant hypermethylation of promoter‐associated CpG islands occurs early and consistently in PC and is a well‐established epigenetic mechanism for gene silencing . MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that induce gene silencing by binding to target mRNAs and are commonly deregulated in PC . Gene regulation mediated by miRNA and/or DNA methylation can influence key cellular processes such as growth and differentiation, which in turn may affect tumor development and progression .…”

“…MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that induce gene silencing by binding to target mRNAs and are commonly deregulated in PC . Gene regulation mediated by miRNA and/or DNA methylation can influence key cellular processes such as growth and differentiation, which in turn may affect tumor development and progression . DNA methylation and miRNAs are attractive sources for biomarker discovery with promising diagnostic and prognostic potential reported for PC in previous studies .…”

“…10 Gene regulation mediated by miRNA and/or DNA methylation can influence key cellular processes such as growth and differentiation, which in turn may affect tumor development and progression. 9,10 DNA methylation and miRNAs are attractive sources for biomarker discovery with promising diagnostic and prognostic potential reported for PC in previous studies. [5][6][7][8]11,12 As an added potential advantage, both these molecule types can be quantified in archival formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue samples using cost-effective qPCR-based methods.…”