BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - MicroRNAs are key regulators of gene expression and play critical roles in both normal physiology and pathology. Recent research has demonstrated that these molecules are present and highly stable in the cell-free fractions of blood (i.e., serum and plasma). More importantly, emerging evidence suggests that these circulating miRNAs are useful indicators of disease, including prostate cancer. In this study, we assessed the ability of serum miRNAs to predict biochemical recurrence (BCR) in men with localised prostate cancer treated by radical prostatectomy.
We found that miR-146b-3p and miR-194 were predictors of BCR in a cohort of Australian men. Importantly, miR-146b-3p possessed prognostic information beyond standard clinicopathological parameters. Our study suggests that these circulating miRNAs, measured at the time of radical prostatectomy, could be combined with current prognostic tools to predict future disease progression in men with prostate cancer.
A limitation of our study was that the cohort of men was relatively small (n = 70), limited to Gleason score 7 patients, and enriched for men who experienced early biochemical disease progression. Moreover, although BCR has become the de facto measure of the effectiveness of radical prostatectomy, it does not always translate into clinical progression. As such, the results should be interpreted with caution and with the caveat that additional studies might uncover circulating miRNAs that add to or out-perform the markers identified here. The next step is to validate these findings in larger and more diverse cohorts.
Written by:
Luke Selth, PhD as part of Beyond the Abstract on UroToday.com. This initiative offers a method of publishing for the professional urology community. Authors are given an opportunity to expand on the circumstances, limitations etc... of their research by referencing the published abstract.
Dame Roma Mitchell Cancer Research Laboratories, Adelaide Prostate Cancer Research Centre and Freemasons Foundation Centre for Men’s Health
University of Adelaide
PO Box 14, Rundle Mall
Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
Circulating MicroRNAs as biomarkers of prostate cancer: The state of play - Abstract
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