Identification of a four-microRNA panel in serum for screening renal cell carcinoma

• Published in: Pathology, research and practice Vol. 227; p. 153625
• Main Authors: Chen, Xuan, Li, Rongkang, Li, Xinji, Peng, Xiqi, Zhang, Chunduo, Liu, Kaihao, Huang, Guocheng, Lai, Yongqing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Elsevier GmbH 01.11.2021
• Subjects: Biomarker; Biomarkers, Tumor - blood; Biomarkers, Tumor - genetics; Cancer diagnosis; Carcinoma, Renal Cell - blood; Carcinoma, Renal Cell - genetics; Carcinoma, Renal Cell - pathology; Case-Control Studies; Circulating MicroRNA - blood; Circulating MicroRNA - genetics; Early Detection of Cancer - methods; Female; Gene Expression Profiling; Humans; Kidney Neoplasms - blood; Kidney Neoplasms - genetics; Kidney Neoplasms - pathology; Male; MicroRNA; Middle Aged; Predictive Value of Tests; Renal cell carcinoma; Reproducibility of Results; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Serum; Serum; Biomarker; MicroRNA; Cancer diagnosis; Renal cell carcinoma
• ISSN: 0344-0338; 1618-0631
• DOI: 10.1016/j.prp.2021.153625

The aim of the study was to identify serum microRNAs (miRNAs) as potential biomarkers for screening renal cell carcinoma. The study was divided into three stages, including screening stage, training stage, and validation stage. In the screening stage, we examined the expression of 30 serum miRNAs from healthy controls (HCs) and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients. We further studied the dysregulated miRNAs in training (30 RCC and 26 HCs) and validation (73 RCC and 80 HCs) stages. We estimated the diagnostic value of miRNAs by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and the area under the ROC curve (AUC). Finally, bioinformatics analysis were performed towards target genes of differentially expressed miRNAs. Six serum miRNAs (miR-17-5p, miR-20a-5p, miR-21-5p, miR-150-5p, miR-145-5p and miR-146a-5p) in RCC patients were obviously differentially expressed compared to those in HCs in training stage and validation stage. To increase diagnostic value, we combined these six serum miRNAs and made a four-microRNA (miR-21-5p, miR-150-5p, miR-145-5p and miR-146a-5p) panel, and AUC of the panel was 0.938 (95% CI: 0.889-0.971; sensitivity=90.79%, specificity=93.75%). The genes targeted by these miRNAs were suggested that they may be involved in the process of cancers by the bioinformatics analysis. Our study was performing a four-microRNA panel in serum for screening enal cell carcinoma. The four-miRNA panel (miR-21-5p, miR-150-5p, miR-145-5p and miR-146a-5p) may be perform as a biomarker without invasiveness for RCC screening.