Identification of four candidates circulating microRNAs in plasma as a potential biomarker for early-stage breast cancer diagnosis in Vietnamese women

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most commonly occurring malignant neoplasm among the female population. This study aims to ascertain novel biomarkers that may prove advantageous in the early detection of breast cancer. The present investigation involved a comparative analysis of the plasma expression of four distinct microRNA (namely, miR-425-5p, miR-142-3p, miR-9-3p and miR-15b-5p) in a cohort of 80 Vietnamese patients who were newly diagnosed with breast cancer. The expression levels of these microRNA were compared with those of 80 healthy individuals who served as controls. The plasma total RNA was extracted and the miRNA expression levels were assessed using Stem-loop RT-qPCR followed by statistical analysis. According to the findings of our study, the plasma levels of four microRNAs namely miR-425-5p, miR-142-3p, miR-9-3p and miR-15b-5p, were significantly reduced in both breast cancer patients in stage 0-I and the general breast cancer patient population as compared to healthy controls. The diagnostic accuracy of both miR-9-3p levels and miR-15b-5p levels was satisfactory with 74% and 88% values respectively. The combined effect of miR-425-5p/miR-142-3p/miR-9-3p/miR-15b-5p revealed the highest level of diagnostic precision, attaining a rate of 98% and an area under the curve value of 0.98 (with a sensitivity of 87.5% and specificity of 100%). In summary, the microRNAs miR-425-5p, miR-142-3p, miR-9-3p and miR-15b-5p exhibit potential as non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers for breast cancer, particularly in the initial stages of the disease.