title: Global microRNA expression profiling of microdissected tissues identifies miR-135b as a novel biomarker for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
abstract: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is known for its poor prognosis resulting from being diagnosed at an advanced stage. Accurate early diagnosis and new therapeutic modalities are therefore urgently needed. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), considered a new class of biomarkers and therapeutic targets, may be able to fulfill those needs. Combining tissue microdissection with global miRNA array analyses, cell type-specific miRNA expression profiles were generated for normal pancreatic ductal cells, acinar cells, PDAC cells derived from xenografts and also from macrodissected chronic pancreatitis (CP) tissues. We identified 78 miRNAs differentially expressed between ND and PDAC cells providing new insights into the miRNA-driven pathophysiological mechanisms involved in PDAC development. Having filtered miRNAs which are upregulated in the three pairwise comparisons of PDAC vs. ND, PDAC vs. AZ and PDAC vs. CP, we identified 15 miRNA biomarker candidates including miR-135b. Using relative qRT-PCR to measure miR-135b normalized to miR-24 in 75 FFPE specimens (42 PDAC and 33 CP) covering a broad range of tumor content, we discriminated CP from PDAC with a sensitivity and specificity of 92.9% [95% CI=(80.5, 98.5)] and 93.4% [95% CI=(79.8, 99.3)], respectively. Furthermore, the area under the curve (AUC) value reached of 0.97 was accompanied by positive and negative predictive values of 95% and 91%, respectively. In conclusion, we report pancreatic cell-specific global miRNA profiles, which offer new candidate miRNAs to be exploited for functional studies in PDAC. Furthermore, we provide evidence that miRNAs are well-suited analytes for development of sensitive and specific aid-in-diagnosis tests for PDAC.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pathology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Johanna B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Munding
authors.forename: Alex T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Adai
authors.forename: Abdelouahid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maghnouj
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Urbanik
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zöllner
authors.forename: Sven T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Liffers
authors.forename: Ansgar M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Chromik
authors.forename: Waldemar
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Uhl
authors.forename: Anna E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Szafranska-Schwarzbach
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tannapfel
authors.forename: Stephan A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Hahn
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D021441:Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D050500:Pancreatitis, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C544965:MIRN135 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs