Androgen Signalling Laboratory, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London W12 0NN, UK.
Br J Cancer. 2013 May 28;108(10):1925-30. doi: 10.1038/bjc.2013.192. Epub 2013 Apr 30.
Since they were first described in the 1990s, circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have provided an active and rapidly evolving area of current research that has the potential to transform cancer diagnostics and therapeutics. In particular, miRNAs could provide potential new biomarkers for prostate cancer, the most common cause of cancer in UK men. Current diagnostic tests for prostate cancer have low specificity and poor sensitivity. Further, although many prostate cancers are so slow growing as not to pose a major risk to health, there is currently no test to distinguish between these and cancers that will become aggressive and life threatening. Circulating miRNAs are highly stable and are both detectable and quantifiable in a range of accessible bio fluids, thus have the potential to be useful diagnostic, prognostic and predictive biomarkers. This review aims to summarise the current understanding of circulating miRNAs in prostate cancer patients and their potential role as biomarkers.
自上世纪 90 年代首次被描述以来，循环 microRNAs（miRNAs）一直是当前研究的活跃和快速发展领域，有可能改变癌症的诊断和治疗方法。特别是，miRNAs 可能为前列腺癌提供潜在的新生物标志物，前列腺癌是英国男性最常见的癌症。目前用于前列腺癌的诊断测试特异性低，灵敏度差。此外，尽管许多前列腺癌生长缓慢，对健康构成的威胁不大，但目前还没有一种测试方法可以区分这些肿瘤与那些具有侵袭性和威胁生命的肿瘤。循环 miRNAs 非常稳定，在多种可及的生物体液中均可检测和定量，因此具有成为有价值的诊断、预后和预测生物标志物的潜力。本综述旨在总结循环 miRNAs 在前列腺癌患者中的当前认识及其作为生物标志物的潜在作用。
