GSE122488
Deep sequencing of circulating exosomal microRNA allows non-invasive glioblastoma diagnosis
Background: Safe and sensitive methods for glioblastoma diagnosis and disease monitoring are urgently needed. Exosomes are nano-sized extracellular vesicles that contain molecules characteristic of their cell-of-origin, including microRNA. Exosomes released by glioblastoma tumors cross the blood-brain-barrier ino the peripheral circulation. Methods: Serum exosomal-microRNA isolated from IDH-wildtype glioblastoma (n=12) and IDH-mutant glioma grades II-III (n=10) were analyzed using small-RNA next generation sequencing and compared to age- and gender-matched healthy controls. Differentially expressed miRNAs (|fold change|³2 and p-value?=?0.05 in three statistical tests, Fischer-exact, t-test, and Wilcoxon) were identified and the predictive power of individual and subsets of miRNAs were tested using univariate (logistic regression) and multivariate (Random Forest) analyses. Additional glioblastoma sera (n=4) and independent sets of healthy (n=9) and non-glioma (n=10) controls were used to further test the predictive power of our glioblastoma miRNA signature. Results: Twenty-six miRNAs were differentially expressed in glioblastoma relative to healthy controls. Seven miRNAs (miR-182-5p, miR-328-3p, miR-339-5p, miR-340-5p, miR-485-3p, miR-486-5p and miR-543) were the most stable for classifying glioblastoma, achieving a predictive power of 91.7%. Strikingly, the combined expressions of miR-182-5p, miR-328-3p miR-485-3p miR-486-5p distinguished glioblastoma patients from controls with perfect accuracy. This miRNA panel was able to correctly classify all specimens in validation cohorts (n=23). An analogous approach was used to identify 23 dysregulated miRNAs in IDH-mutant gliomas, including a distinct subset of stable miRNAs for classifying patients with lower-grade IDH-mutant gliomas. Conclusions: Our serum exosomal-miRNA signature can accurately diagnose glioblastoma preoperatively. These findings have significant scope to revolutionize glioblastoma tumor diagnosis and disease monitoring. IMPORTANCE OF STUDY: There is a real need for accurate biomarkers that can measure glioblastoma disease activity and treatment response in a safe and timely manner. This study demonstrates that exosome-associated microRNAs have exceptional utility as blood-based biomarkers in glioma patients. This work also shows the potential for exosomal microRNA profiles to be used for glioma subtyping, grading and determining mutational states. The development of specific, sensitive and non-invasive screening tests would have significant clinical benefit by reducing costs of treatment monitoring, improving accessibility and quality-of-life measures. Moreover, such tests have the potential to provide objectively measured surrogate endpoints to allow clinical trial protocols to be more dynamic and adaptive. Overall design: Serum exosomal miRNA profiles ofIDH-wildtype glioblastoma, IDH-mutant glioma grades II-III, their matched healthy controls, and additional GBM patients, non_GBM patients and healthy controls were generated by deep sequencing, single end, using Illumina HiSeq. 2000 System at the Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics.