Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare cancer with poor prognosis.
Local and distant recurrences occur in a subset of tumors classified as 'aggressive' ACC (aACC), as opposed to 'non-aggressive' ACC (naACC). In this study, we investigated whether tissue and serum microRNAs (miRNAs) are predictive of ACC prognosis. Tissue miRNA expression profiles were determined using microarrays in a test series of 6 adrenocortical adenomas (ACA), 6 naACC and 6 aACC. Eight miRNAs were selected for further validation by quantitative RT-PCR (10 ACA, 9 naACC, 9 aACC, and 3 normal adrenals). Serum levels of five miRNAs were measured in samples from 56 subjects (19 healthy controls, 14 ACA, 9 naACC and 14 aACC patients). MiR-195 and miR-335 levels were significantly decreased in both tumor and serum samples of ACC patients relative to ACA patients or healthy controls. MiR-139-5p and miR-376a levels were significantly increased in aACC compared to naACC patients in tumor samples only. Tissue miR-483-5p was markedly up-regulated in a majority of ACC as compared to ACA or healthy controls but most importantly, serum miR-483-5p was detected only in aACC patients. High circulating levels of miR-483-5p or low circulating levels of miR-195 were associated with both shorter recurrence-free survival (p=0.0004 and p=0.0014, respectively) and shorter overall survival (p=0.0005 and p=0.0086, respectively). In conclusion, the present study reports for the first time that circulating miR-483-5p and miR-195 are promising non-invasive biomarkers with a highly specific prognostic value for the clinical outcome of ACC patients.
Written by:
Chabre O, Libé R, Assié G, Barreau O, Bertherat J, Bertagna X, Feige JJ, Cherradi N. Are you the author?
O Chabre, Endocrinology, University Hospital Albert Michallon, Grenoble, France.
Reference: Endocr Relat Cancer. 2013 Jun 11. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1530/ERC-13-0051
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 23756429
UroToday.com Investigative Urology Section
