Abstract
Body fluids often contain freely circulating nucleic acids, many of which can be exploited as noninvasive tools for the diagnosis of cancer as well as for clinical prognostication. Identifying microRNAs (miRNAs) in subjects' blood with various malignancies means that they can serve as novel biomarkers for prostate cancer (PCa) diagnosis. This study analyzed serum-circulating miRNAs as a noninvasive biomarker in subjects with PCa and subjects with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). In total, 31 PCa subjects and 31 BPH subjects were included, with the BPH group serving as the control group. RT-qPCR was used to quantify the levels of 10 miRNAs, which included miR-18a, miR-34a, miR-106b, miR-183, miR-200a, miR-301a, miR-141, miR-182, miR-200b, and miR-375 in serum. Statistical tests were used to assess the relationship between the levels of miRNAs and the clinicopathological data. A significant increase was observed in the relative expression ratios of miR-141, miR-182, miR-200b, and miR-375 (1.89-, 2.09-, 2.41-, and 2.27-folds, respectively) in the PCa group when compared to the BPH group. Based on the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, the largest area under the curve (AUC), 0.923, was associated with the miR-200b group, indicating effective diagnostic properties for this biomarker. A correlation was observed between total prostate-specific antigen (TPSA) and the relative levels of miR-141, miR-182, miR-200b, and miR-375. The Gleason score and the miR-200b expression level were also correlated. These results are consistent with previous studies regarding the possibility of differentiating between PCa subjects and healthy controls based on the detection of miRNA. The findings attest to a distinctive expression profile of miRNA that is detectable in the blood of PCa subjects, thereby confirming the role of miRNAs as diagnostic biomarkers for PCa.
Highlights
As the fifth most common cause of cancer-related deaths in men and the second most common malignancy, 1.3 million new cases of prostate cancer (PCa) were diagnosed in 2018, and 358,989 deaths were recorded globally in the same year [1]
No statistically significant difference was detected in terms of age; age was not considered the factor that accounted for the disparities between the PCa and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) subjects (Figure 1(a))
Normalization of the expression ratios of specific miRNAs from the serum samples of the PCa and BPH subjects was undertaken, with RNU6 used as a reference gene
Summary
As the fifth most common cause of cancer-related deaths in men and the second most common malignancy, 1.3 million new cases of prostate cancer (PCa) were diagnosed in 2018, and 358,989 deaths were recorded globally in the same year [1]. Studies indicate that many serum miRNAs are expressed differently in the context of PCa, where a significant proportion are oncomirs, displaying overexpression in PCa, promoting tumorigenesis, and negatively regulating specific tumor suppressor genes [19, 20] These stable, cancer-specific biomarkers have been identified as having considerable potential in the diagnosis, prognosis, and prediction of treatment responses to PCa. Given the promise associated with miRNAs as cancer biomarkers, a range of research projects has been undertaken to identify the most relevant miRNAs implicated in PCa biology and to establish a PCa-specific miRNA expression profile [21, 22]. An analysis was undertaken of the relationship among circulating miRNA levels and TPSA and the Gleason score
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