Title:Prognostic Implications of microRNA-155, -133a, -21 and -205 in Breast
Cancer Patients’ Plasma
Volume: 10
Issue: 3
Author(s): Aarthy Raghu, Arunagiri Kuha Deva Magendhra Rao, Thangarajan Rajkumar and Samson Mani*
Affiliation:
- Department of Molecular Oncology, Cancer Institute (WIA), Chennai 600036,India
Keywords:
Circulating miRNA, breast cancer, liquid biopsy, real-time PCR, non-invasive biomarkers, plasma.
Abstract:
Background: Breast cancer, being a heterogenous disease at the intra-tumoral and intertumoral
levels, presents challenges in following the progress of the disease. Tumour-secreted aberrantly
expressed miRNAs obtained from peripheral blood represent a non-invasive alternative resource
for detecting and monitoring the development of the disease. This study evaluates the expression
of miR-155, miR-133a, miR-21 and miR-205 as non-invasive, prognostic and follow-up
markers for breast cancer.
Methods: Plasma expression levels of miR-155, miR-133a, miR-21 and miR-205 were measured
using real-time PCR in breast cancer patients (n=63) at presentation, healthy controls (n=25), and
in post-treatment samples of 31 patients. A meta-analysis was performed using 43 studies identified
from PubMed, Google Scholar and Scopus databases. Hedge’s g values were used to calculate
the overall effect size.
Results: Plasma miR-21 levels were higher in breast cancer patients at presentation compared to
controls, while no difference was observed for miR-155, miR-133a and miR-205. These results
were further supported by the meta-analysis. The altered levels of miR-155 during tamoxifen treatment
indicated a potential role for miR-155 in monitoring treatment response. Further, high expressions
of at least three miRNAs correlated with poor overall survival in the breast cancer patients.
Conclusion: Plasma levels of miR-155, miR-133a, miR-21 and miR-205 may be useful as prognostic
and follow-up markers for breast cancer with further validation in a large cohort of patients.
