Pancreatic cancer is the fourth cause of the death by cancer worldwide. It remains the only cancer whose survival has not improved in the last 40 years (only 18% of patients are still alive after 1 year, and 5% after 5 years), because of the high metastatic capacity and chemoresistance of the tumour. Complete tumour resection offers a chance to improve prognosis, but only 20% of patients are suitable for surgery. Although carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) are commonly used biomarkers in clinical practice, they are not sufficiently sensitive and specific for early diagnosis neither for predicting response to treatment. The search for biomarkers for early diagnosis, post-operative surveillance and prognosis prediction is therefore fundamental in the context of pancreatic cancer. Circulating micro-RNAs (miRNAs), emerging regulators of gene expression, have been reported by several studies as powerful non-invasive biomarkers in the pancreatic cancer setting, because of their presence and stability in human body fluids. Distinctive miRNAs expression profiles have been associated to pancreatic cancer; furthermore, changes in their expression seems to identify cancer development and response to treatment. Although many papers have been published in this field, the results are still controversial and no consensus has reached about sample type, methodologies and protocols to be adopted thus hampering their introduction into routine practice. This paper aims to summarize the methodological choices in the analysis of circulating miRNAs with particular focus on the critical points of the different phases of the process.
Micro-rnas as potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in pancreatic cancer: Methodological choices and issues
Aita A.;Sperti C.;Moletta L.;De Pitta C.Membro del Collaboration Group
;Millino C.;Pacchioni B.;Pedrazzoli S.;Plebani M.Supervision
;Basso D.
Writing – Original Draft Preparation
2021
Abstract
Pancreatic cancer is the fourth cause of the death by cancer worldwide. It remains the only cancer whose survival has not improved in the last 40 years (only 18% of patients are still alive after 1 year, and 5% after 5 years), because of the high metastatic capacity and chemoresistance of the tumour. Complete tumour resection offers a chance to improve prognosis, but only 20% of patients are suitable for surgery. Although carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) are commonly used biomarkers in clinical practice, they are not sufficiently sensitive and specific for early diagnosis neither for predicting response to treatment. The search for biomarkers for early diagnosis, post-operative surveillance and prognosis prediction is therefore fundamental in the context of pancreatic cancer. Circulating micro-RNAs (miRNAs), emerging regulators of gene expression, have been reported by several studies as powerful non-invasive biomarkers in the pancreatic cancer setting, because of their presence and stability in human body fluids. Distinctive miRNAs expression profiles have been associated to pancreatic cancer; furthermore, changes in their expression seems to identify cancer development and response to treatment. Although many papers have been published in this field, the results are still controversial and no consensus has reached about sample type, methodologies and protocols to be adopted thus hampering their introduction into routine practice. This paper aims to summarize the methodological choices in the analysis of circulating miRNAs with particular focus on the critical points of the different phases of the process.
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