title: Diagnosing Lung Cancers through Examination of Micro-RNA Biomarkers in Blood, Plasma, Serum and Sputum: A Review and Summary of Current Literature.
abstract: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer related morbidity and mortality worldwide. Currently, the vast majority of lung cancers are diagnosed at a late stage, when patients become symptomatic leading to dismal, less than 15% five-year survival rates. Evidence has demonstrated that screening computed tomography scans can be used to detect lung cancer, but these scans have high false positive rates. Therefore, there is a continued need for the development of minimally-invasive methods to screen the high risk population and diagnose lung cancer at an earlier, curable stage. One such promising area is the use micro-RNAs. These are short, non-coding RNA molecules that have been shown in previous research to be dysregulated in cancers. This review will focus on the potential use of miRNA levels in various biological fluids (whole blood, plasma, serum, and sputum) and demonstrate their potential utility as screening and diagnostic biomarkers for lung cancer. Current research will be analyzed and compared, and future directions in establishing the use of miRNAs for detecting lung cancer will be discussed.
authors.affiliation: Division of Thoracic Surgery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3, Canada. sshan1@ualberta.ca.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gyoba
authors.affiliation: Division of Thoracic Surgery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3, Canada. sshan1@ualberta.ca.
authors.forename: Shubham
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3, Canada. wilson.roa@albertahealthservices.ca.
authors.forename: Wilson
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Roa
authors.affiliation: Division of Thoracic Surgery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3, Canada. gyoba@ualberta.ca.
authors.forename: Eric L R
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Bédard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D013183:Sputum / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: biomarker; early detection; lung cancer; micro-RNA; plasma; screening; serum; sputum; whole blood