Unit of Cancer Epidemiology, Città Della Salute e Della Scienza University-Hospital and Center for Cancer Prevention (CPO), Via Santena 7, 10126 Turin, Italy.
Unit of Cancer Epidemiology, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Oct 12;24(20):15114. doi: 10.3390/ijms242015114.
The analysis of circulating tumor cells and tumor-derived materials, such as circulating tumor DNA, circulating miRNAs (cfmiRNAs), and extracellular vehicles provides crucial information in cancer research. CfmiRNAs, a group of short noncoding regulatory RNAs, have gained attention as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. This review focuses on the discovery phases of cfmiRNA studies in breast cancer patients, aiming to identify altered cfmiRNA levels compared to healthy controls. A systematic literature search was conducted, resulting in 16 eligible publications. The studies included a total of 585 breast cancer cases and 496 healthy controls, with diverse sample types and different cfmiRNA assay panels. Several cfmiRNAs, including MIR16, MIR191, MIR484, MIR106a, and MIR193b, showed differential expressions between breast cancer cases and healthy controls. However, the studies had a high risk of bias and lacked standardized protocols. The findings highlight the need for robust study designs, standardized procedures, and larger sample sizes in discovery phase studies. Furthermore, the identified cfmiRNAs can serve as potential candidates for further validation studies in different populations. Improving the design and implementation of cfmiRNA research in liquid biopsies may enhance their clinical diagnostic utility in breast cancer patients.
循环肿瘤细胞和肿瘤衍生物质（如循环肿瘤 DNA、循环 miRNA(cfmiRNA) 和细胞外囊泡）的分析为癌症研究提供了关键信息。cfmiRNA 作为一组短的非编码调控 RNA，作为诊断和预后生物标志物受到关注。本综述重点介绍了乳腺癌患者 cfmiRNA 研究的发现阶段，旨在确定与健康对照组相比 cfmiRNA 水平的变化。进行了系统的文献检索，共纳入 16 篇符合条件的文献。这些研究共纳入了 585 例乳腺癌病例和 496 例健康对照，样本类型多样，cfmiRNA 检测面板也不同。包括 MIR16、MIR191、MIR484、MIR106a 和 MIR193b 在内的几种 cfmiRNA 在乳腺癌病例和健康对照之间表现出不同的表达。然而，这些研究存在较高的偏倚风险，缺乏标准化的方案。这些发现强调了在发现阶段研究中需要稳健的研究设计、标准化的程序和更大的样本量。此外，鉴定出的 cfmiRNA 可以作为进一步在不同人群中进行验证研究的潜在候选物。改进液体活检中 cfmiRNA 研究的设计和实施可能会提高其在乳腺癌患者中的临床诊断效用。
