MicroRNA expression profiles classify human cancers.
Recent work has revealed the existence of a class of small non-coding RNA species, known as microRNAs (miRNAs), which have critical functions across various biological processes. Here we use a new, bead-based flow cytometric miRNA expression profiling method to present a systematic expression analysis of 217 mammalian miRNAs from 334 samples, including multiple human cancers. The miRNA profiles are surprisingly informative, reflecting the developmental lineage and differentiation state of the tumours. We observe a general downregulation of miRNAs in tumours compared with normal tissues. Furthermore, we were able to successfully classify poorly differentiated tumours using miRNA expression profiles, whereas messenger RNA profiles were highly inaccurate when applied to the same samples. These findings highlight the potential of miRNA profiling in cancer diagnosis.
Lu
Jun
J
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02141, USA.
Getz
Gad
G
Miska
Eric A
EA
Alvarez-Saavedra
Ezequiel
E
Lamb
Justin
J
Peck
David
D
Sweet-Cordero
Alejandro
A
Ebert
Benjamin L
BL
Mak
Raymond H
RH
Ferrando
Adolfo A
AA
Downing
James R
JR
Jacks
Tyler
T
Horvitz
H Robert
HR
Golub
Todd R
TR
D000818:Animals; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D035683:MicroRNAs