A differentially expressed set of microRNAs in cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF) can diagnose CNS malignancies

• Published in: Oncotarget Vol. 6; no. 25; pp. 20829 - 20839
• Main Authors: Drusco, Alessandra, Bottoni, Arianna, Laganà, Alessandro, Acunzo, Mario, Fassan, Matteo, Cascione, Luciano, Antenucci, Anna, Kumchala, Prasanthi, Vicentini, Caterina, Gardiman, Marina P, Alder, Hansjuerg, Carosi, Mariantonia A, Ammirati, Mario, Gherardi, Stefano, Luscrì, Marilena, Carapella, Carmine, Zanesi, Nicola, Croce, Carlo M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Impact Journals LLC 28.08.2015
• Subjects: Biomarkers - metabolism; Biomarkers, Tumor; Biopsy; Brain Neoplasms - cerebrospinal fluid; Central Nervous System Neoplasms - cerebrospinal fluid; Cerebrospinal Fluid - metabolism; Diagnosis, Differential; Gene Expression Profiling; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Glioblastoma - cerebrospinal fluid; Humans; In Situ Hybridization; MicroRNAs - cerebrospinal fluid; MicroRNAs - genetics; MicroRNAs - metabolism; Nanotechnology - methods; Neoplasm Staging; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; Priority Research Paper; microRNA; cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF); brain tumors; biomarkers
• ISSN: 1949-2553; 1949-2553
• DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.4096

Central Nervous System malignancies often require stereotactic biopsy or biopsy for differential diagnosis, and for tumor staging and grading. Furthermore, stereotactic biopsy can be non-diagnostic or underestimate grading. Hence, there is a compelling need of new diagnostic biomarkers to avoid such invasive procedures. Several biological markers have been proposed, but they can only identify specific prognostic subtype of Central Nervous System tumors, and none of them has found a standardized clinical application.The aim of the study was to identify a Cerebro-Spinal Fluid microRNA signature that could differentiate among Central Nervous System malignancies.CSF total RNA of 34 neoplastic and of 14 non-diseased patients was processed by NanoString. Comparison among groups (Normal, Benign, Glioblastoma, Medulloblastoma, Metastasis and Lymphoma) lead to the identification of a microRNA profile that was further confirmed by RT-PCR and in situ hybridization.Hsa-miR-451, -711, 935, -223 and -125b were significantly differentially expressed among the above mentioned groups, allowing us to draw an hypothetical diagnostic chart for Central Nervous System malignancies.This is the first study to employ the NanoString technique for Cerebro-Spinal Fluid microRNA profiling. In this article, we demonstrated that Cerebro-Spinal Fluid microRNA profiling mirrors Central Nervous System physiologic or pathologic conditions. Although more cases need to be tested, we identified a diagnostic Cerebro-Spinal Fluid microRNA signature with good perspectives for future diagnostic clinical applications.