Printer Friendly

AACR: Can miRNA signatures predict early breast cancer?

April 30, 2010

Three miRNAs, biomarkers found in the blood,  were significantly elevated in breast cancer patients compared to healthy controls and patients with other cancers, in a study presented at the 2010 annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). MiRNAs may be novel tumor biomarkers which could aid in breast cancer diagnosis and distinguish one breast cancer type from another.   The research to date has not been clear on whether specific miRNAs found to be altered in cancers of prostate, colon, lung, and breast are tumor specific or a general occurrence with cancer formation.  In this study, researchers looked at a panel of 9 “oncomirs” in melanoma and in prostate, breast, renal, and colon cancers.  MiRNA expression levels were compared in blood specimens from 163 cancer patients and from 44 age-matched disease-free individuals.  All cancer patients expressed the panel of 9 miRNAs at various levels.  But specific miRNA expression levels varied between the different cancers.  MiR-195, miR-342, and miR-181c were found to be breast cancer specific.  Another interesting finding was that miR-195 expression level increased progressively as the disease stage advanced and decreased significantly after surgery to levels that are comparable to those observed in healthy controls.  These findings suggest that miRNA expression profiles may be reliable cancer biomarkers of important clinical relevance.