Tumor-Specific miRNA Signatures in Combination with CA19-9 for Liquid Biopsy-Based Detection of PDAC

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is considered one of the most aggressive malignancies and has high mortality and poor survival rates. Therefore, there is an urgent need to discover non-invasive biomarkers for early detection before PDAC reaches the incurable stage. We hypothesized that liqui...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Min Woo Kim, Hani Koh, Jee Ye Kim, Suji Lee, Hyojung Lee, Young Kim, Ho Kyoung Hwang, Seung Il Kim
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-12-01
Series:International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/22/24/13621
Description
Summary:Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is considered one of the most aggressive malignancies and has high mortality and poor survival rates. Therefore, there is an urgent need to discover non-invasive biomarkers for early detection before PDAC reaches the incurable stage. We hypothesized that liquid biopsy of PDAC-derived extracellular vesicles (PDEs) containing abundant microRNAs (miRNAs) could be used for early diagnosis of PDAC because they can be selectively enriched and because they are biologically stable. We isolated PDEs by immunocapture using magnetic beads, and we identified 13 miRNA candidates in 20 pancreatic cancer patients and 20 normal controls. We found that expression of five miRNAs, including miR-10b, miR-16, miR-155, miR-429, and miR-1290, was markedly higher in PDEs. Furthermore, the miRNA signatures along with serum carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) were optimized by logistic regression, and the miRNA signature and CA19-9 combination markers (CMs) were effective at differentiating PDAC patients from normal controls. As a result, the CMs represented a high sensitivity (AUC, 0.964; sensitivity, 100%; specificity, 80%) and a high specificity (AUC, 0.962; sensitivity, 85.71%; specificity, 100%). These findings suggest that five miRNAs expressed in PDEs and CA19-9 are valuable biomarkers for screening and diagnosis of pancreatic cancer by liquid biopsy.
ISSN:1661-6596
1422-0067