Division of Digestive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto 602-8566, Japan.
Br J Cancer. 2013 Feb 5;108(2):361-9. doi: 10.1038/bjc.2012.546. Epub 2013 Jan 17.
Several recent studies have demonstrated that microRNAs (miRNAs) are stably detectable in plasma/serum. We tested miR-221 and miR-375, which are frequently reported to be highly and poorly expressed in pancreatic cancer (PCa), as candidates for plasma biomarkers in PCa.
This study was divided into three parts: (1) Confirmation of higher miR-221 levels in primary PCa tissue and cell lines than normal pancreatic tissues. (2) Evaluation of plasma miR-221 and miR-375 concentrations by comparing results from 47 consecutive PCa patients and 30 healthy volunteers. (3) Evaluation of the assay for monitoring tumour dynamics in PCa patients.
(1) Expression of miR-221 was significantly higher in PCa tissues and cell lines than normal pancreatic tissues. (2) Plasma miR-221 concentrations were significantly higher in PCa patients than that in benign pancreatic tumours (P=0.016) and controls (P<0.0005), while plasma miR-375 concentrations tended to be lower in PCa patients (P=0.064), and the miR-221/miR-375 ratio was significantly higher (P<0.0001) in PCa patients than in controls. (3) Plasma miR-221 concentrations were significantly reduced in postoperative samples (P=0.018). Furthermore, PCa patients with high plasma miR-221 concentrations had significant correlation with distant metastasis (P=0.041), and non-resectable status (P=0.021).
Plasma miR-221 could be a useful biomarker for cancer detection, monitoring tumour dynamics and predicting malignant outcomes in PCa patients, and may contribute to clinical decision making in PCa treatments.
最近的几项研究表明，microRNAs (miRNAs) 在血浆/血清中稳定可检测。我们测试了 miR-221 和 miR-375，它们在胰腺癌 (PCa) 中经常被报道为高度和低度表达，作为 PCa 血浆生物标志物的候选物。
本研究分为三部分：(1) 确认原发性 PCa 组织和细胞系中 miR-221 水平高于正常胰腺组织。(2) 通过比较 47 例连续 PCa 患者和 30 例健康志愿者的结果，评估血浆 miR-221 和 miR-375 浓度。(3) 评估该检测方法在 PCa 患者中监测肿瘤动态的能力。
(1) miR-221 在 PCa 组织和细胞系中的表达明显高于正常胰腺组织。(2) PCa 患者的血浆 miR-221 浓度明显高于良性胰腺肿瘤患者 (P=0.016) 和对照组 (P<0.0005)，而 PCa 患者的血浆 miR-375 浓度趋于降低 (P=0.064)，并且 miR-221/miR-375 比值明显高于对照组 (P<0.0001)。(3) 术后样本中的血浆 miR-221 浓度明显降低 (P=0.018)。此外，血浆 miR-221 浓度高的 PCa 患者与远处转移 (P=0.041) 和不可切除状态 (P=0.021) 显著相关。
血浆 miR-221 可能是一种用于癌症检测、监测肿瘤动态和预测 PCa 患者恶性结局的有用生物标志物，并可能有助于 PCa 治疗的临床决策。
