Circulating microRNAs as Promising Tumor Biomarkers.
microRNAs (miRNAs) are small, nonprotein-coding RNAs that function as posttranscriptional regulators of target genes. miRNAs are involved in multiple cell differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis processes that are closely related to tumorigenesis. Circulating miRNAs are promising cancer biomarkers under development with great translational potential in personalized medicine. Here, we describe the origin and function of circulating miRNAs and compare the current new high-throughput technology applied to miRNA quantitation. The latest publications on circulating miRNAs were summarized, indicating that miRNAs are potential biomarkers of diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment response of major cancer types including prostate, breast, lung, colorectal, and hematological cancers. We addressed the strengths and limitations of applying circulating miRNAs in clinical laboratory and several issues associated with the accurate measurement of circulating miRNAs.
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA.
Meng
M
Chen
Department of Experimental Therapeutics, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA.
George A
GA
Calin
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA. Electronic address: qhmeng@mdanderson.org.
Qing H
QH
Meng
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D011379:Prognosis; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D035683:MicroRNAs
Cancer diagnosis; Circulating microRNAs; Prognosis; Quantitation; Treatment response; Tumor biomarker