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Luo J, Du J, Tao C, Xu H, Zhang Y. Exploring temporal suicidal behavior patterns on social media: Insight from Twitter analytics. Health Informatics J 2019; 26:738-752. [PMID: 30866708 DOI: 10.1177/1460458219832043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
A valid mechanism for suicide detection and intervention to a wider population online has not yet been fully established. With the increasing suicide rate, we proposed an approach that aims to examine temporal patterns of potential suicidal ideations and behaviors on Twitter to better understand their risk factors and time-varying features. It identifies latent suicide topics and then models the suicidal topic-related score time series to quantitatively represent behavior patterns on Twitter. After evaluated on a collection of suicide-related tweets in 2016, 13 key risk factors were discovered and the temporal patterns of suicide behavior on different days during 1 week were identified to highlight the distinct time-varying features related to different risk factors. This study is practical to help public health services and others to develop refined prevention strategies, to monitor and support a population of high-risk at right moments.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Yaoyun Zhang
- The University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics, USA
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Niederkrotenthaler T, Till B, Garcia D. Celebrity suicide on Twitter: Activity, content and network analysis related to the death of Swedish DJ Tim Bergling alias Avicii. J Affect Disord 2019; 245:848-855. [PMID: 30699869 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2018.11.071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2018] [Revised: 10/05/2018] [Accepted: 11/09/2018] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Media recommendations for suicide reporting are recommended to prevent imitative suicide but little is known about social media reactions to different revelations about celebrity suicide. METHODS Using the Twitter Application Programming Interface (API), we recorded public tweets mentioning Avicii from the day when his death was reported (N = 2,865,292). We compared that data with a dataset of random tweets. Furthermore, we recorded tweets including suicide in 124 languages before Avicii's death (N = 5,939,107). We processed English tweets mentioning Avicii with the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) to quantify the frequency of affects and related linguistic signals. We also processed the text of tweets to detect tweets mentioning the suicide method, and we retrieved the list of followers of users who tweeted about the method. We constructed reply networks from the dataset, analysing three networks corresponding to the major news events about Avicii's death. RESULTS Avicii's suicide sparked immediate strong interest with both positive (χ² = 781.06, p < 10-6) and negative emotional expressions (χ² = 1518.5, p < 10-6) in comparison to baseline levels. Subsequent revelations were associated with smaller peaks with mainly negative emotional content after Avicii's death was revealed as a suicide (χ² = 33.2, p < 10-6 and after news about the suicide method (χ² = 274.93, p < 10-6). Tweeting about the suicide method was infrequent, but twitter users who covered the method had more followers that users who did not (D = 0.1675, p < 10-6; t = 19.87, p < 10-6), and a noteworthy number of users had considerable exposure to the suicide method. LIMITATIONS This was a descriptive analysis. CONCLUSIONS Twitter users showed strong interest in news about Avicii's death and Avicii's suicide, but less so in the suicide method, and showed distinct tweeting behaviours based on the different revelations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Niederkrotenthaler
- Unit Suicide Research & Mental Health Promotion, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Benedikt Till
- Unit Suicide Research & Mental Health Promotion, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - David Garcia
- Complexity Science Hub Vienna, Austria; Section for Science of Complex Systems, Center for Medical Statistics, Informatics, and Intelligent Systems, Medical University of Vienna, Austria
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Thompson LK, Michael KD, Runkle J, Sugg MM. Crisis Text Line use following the release of Netflix series 13 Reasons Why Season 1: Time-series analysis of help-seeking behavior in youth. Prev Med Rep 2019; 14:100825. [PMID: 30828539 PMCID: PMC6384324 DOI: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2019.100825] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2018] [Revised: 01/31/2019] [Accepted: 02/06/2019] [Indexed: 11/04/2022] Open
Abstract
The availability of near real-time data from Crisis Text Line (CTL) and other technology-based platforms on crisis events provides an opportunity for targeted interventions prior to serious mental health outcomes (e.g., suicide, self-harm). This study examined the association between the release of the popular Netflix series 13 Reasons Why (13RW) and CTL usage in a national sample of youth in the US. We implemented interrupted time-series, autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) modeling to examine this association at a daily scale. We observed a significant but momentary rise in CTL conversation volume following the release of 13RW on April 5 and 6, 2017 followed by a significant reduction (12.7%) in conversation volume for the overall study period. This reduction in call volume was sustained for 49 days and is the most sustained reduction in conversation volume in the 365 day dataset. This unexpected trough in conversation volume is concerning in light of elevated search engine volume for terms indicating an increase in suicidal thoughts in the days following the release of the show (Ayers et al., 2017). CTL was featured by the show as a resource for viewers in the recently released Season 2, and our results highlight the reasoning and need for such promotion. Future work should explore whether the promotion of CTL in Season 2 positively impacted conversation volume, as there is a clear need to harness the power of these digital technologies to detect population-based trends in mental health and expand the reach of life saving services.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura K Thompson
- Department of Geography and Planning, Appalachian State University, P.O. Box 32066, Boone, NC 28608, United States of America
| | - Kurt D Michael
- Department of Psychology, Appalachian State University, P.O. Box 32066, Boone, NC 28608, United States of America
| | - Jennifer Runkle
- North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies, North Carolina State University, 151 Patton Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801, United States of America
| | - Margaret M Sugg
- Department of Geography and Planning, Appalachian State University, P.O. Box 32066, Boone, NC 28608, United States of America
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Ahmed W, Bath PA, Sbaffi L, Demartini G. Novel insights into views towards H1N1 during the 2009 Pandemic: a thematic analysis of Twitter data. Health Info Libr J 2019; 36:60-72. [DOI: 10.1111/hir.12247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2017] [Accepted: 12/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Wasim Ahmed
- Newcastle Business School; Northumbria University; Newcastle upon Tyne UK
| | - Peter A. Bath
- Information School; University of Sheffield; Sheffield UK
| | - Laura Sbaffi
- Information School; University of Sheffield; Sheffield UK
| | - Gianluca Demartini
- School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering; University of Queensland; Queensland UK
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Talaei-Khoei A, Wilson JM, Kazemi SF. Period of Measurement in Time-Series Predictions of Disease Counts from 2007 to 2017 in Northern Nevada: Analytics Experiment. JMIR Public Health Surveill 2019; 5:e11357. [PMID: 30664479 PMCID: PMC6350093 DOI: 10.2196/11357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2018] [Revised: 10/23/2018] [Accepted: 10/30/2018] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The literature in statistics presents methods by which autocorrelation can identify the best period of measurement to improve the performance of a time-series prediction. The period of measurement plays an important role in improving the performance of disease-count predictions. However, from the operational perspective in public health surveillance, there is a limitation to the length of the measurement period that can offer meaningful and valuable predictions. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to establish a method that identifies the shortest period of measurement without significantly decreasing the prediction performance for time-series analysis of disease counts. METHODS The data used in this evaluation include disease counts from 2007 to 2017 in northern Nevada. The disease counts for chlamydia, salmonella, respiratory syncytial virus, gonorrhea, viral meningitis, and influenza A were predicted. RESULTS Our results showed that autocorrelation could not guarantee the best performance for prediction of disease counts. However, the proposed method with the change-point analysis suggests a period of measurement that is operationally acceptable and performance that is not significantly different from the best prediction. CONCLUSIONS The use of change-point analysis with autocorrelation provides the best and most practical period of measurement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amir Talaei-Khoei
- Department of Information Systems, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, NV, United States.,School of Software, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - James M Wilson
- Nevada Medical Intelligence Center, School of Community Health Sciences and Department of Pediatrics, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, NV, United States
| | - Seyed-Farzan Kazemi
- Center for Research and Education in Advanced Transportation Engineering Systems, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, United States
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56
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Zayer MA, Gunes MH. Exploring visual impairment awareness campaigns on Twitter. SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS AND MINING 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/s13278-018-0515-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Payton FC, Yarger LK, Pinter AT. Text Mining Mental Health Reports for Issues Impacting Today's College Students: Qualitative Study. JMIR Ment Health 2018; 5:e10032. [PMID: 30355565 PMCID: PMC6231798 DOI: 10.2196/10032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2018] [Revised: 04/15/2018] [Accepted: 07/21/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND A growing number of college students are experiencing personal circumstances or encountering situations that feel overwhelming and negatively affect their academic studies and other aspects of life on campus. To meet this growing demand for counseling services, US colleges and universities are offering a growing variety of mental health services that provide support and services to students in distress. OBJECTIVE In this study, we explore mental health issues impacting college students using a corpus of news articles, foundation reports, and media stories. Mental health concerns within this population have been on the rise. Uncovering the most salient themes articulated in current news and literature reports can better enable higher education institutions to provide health services to its students. METHODS We used SAS Text Miner to analyze 165 references that were published from 2010 to 2015 and focused on mental health among college students. Key clusters were identified to reveal the themes that were most significant to the topic. RESULTS The final cluster analysis yielded six themes in students' mental health experiences in higher education (ie, age, race, crime, student services, aftermath, victim). Two themes, increasing demand for student services provided by campus counseling centers (113/165, 68.5%) and the increased mental health risks faced by racial and ethnic minorities (30/165, 18.2%), dominated the discourse. CONCLUSIONS Higher education institutions are actively engaged in extending mental health services and offering targeted outreach to students of color. Cluster analysis identified that institutions are devoting more and innovative resources in response to the growing number students who experience mental health concerns. However, there is a need to focus on proactive approaches to mitigate the causes of mental health and the aftermath of a negative experience, particularly violence and sexual assault. Such strategies can potentially influence how students navigate their health information seeking and how information and communication technologies, including mobile apps, can partially address the needs of college students.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fay Cobb Payton
- Poole College of Management, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States
| | - Lynette Kvasny Yarger
- College of Information Sciences and Technology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
| | - Anthony Thomas Pinter
- Department of Information Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States
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Colditz JB, Chu KH, Emery SL, Larkin CR, James AE, Welling J, Primack BA. Toward Real-Time Infoveillance of Twitter Health Messages. Am J Public Health 2018; 108:1009-1014. [PMID: 29927648 DOI: 10.2105/ajph.2018.304497] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
There is growing interest in conducting public health research using data from social media. In particular, Twitter "infoveillance" has demonstrated utility across health contexts. However, rigorous and reproducible methodologies for using Twitter data in public health are not yet well articulated, particularly those related to content analysis, which is a highly popular approach. In 2014, we gathered an interdisciplinary team of health science researchers, computer scientists, and methodologists to begin implementing an open-source framework for real-time infoveillance of Twitter health messages (RITHM). Through this process, we documented common challenges and novel solutions to inform future work in real-time Twitter data collection and subsequent human coding. The RITHM framework allows researchers and practitioners to use well-planned and reproducible processes in retrieving, storing, filtering, subsampling, and formatting data for health topics of interest. Further considerations for human coding of Twitter data include coder selection and training, data representation, codebook development and refinement, and monitoring coding accuracy and productivity. We illustrate methodological considerations through practical examples from formative work related to hookah tobacco smoking, and we reference essential methods literature related to understanding and using Twitter data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason B Colditz
- Jason B. Colditz, Kar-Hai Chu, Chandler R. Larkin, and Brian A. Primack are with the Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA. Sherry L. Emery is with NORC, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. A. Everette James is with the Health Policy Institute, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh. Joel Welling is with the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, Pittsburgh
| | - Kar-Hai Chu
- Jason B. Colditz, Kar-Hai Chu, Chandler R. Larkin, and Brian A. Primack are with the Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA. Sherry L. Emery is with NORC, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. A. Everette James is with the Health Policy Institute, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh. Joel Welling is with the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, Pittsburgh
| | - Sherry L Emery
- Jason B. Colditz, Kar-Hai Chu, Chandler R. Larkin, and Brian A. Primack are with the Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA. Sherry L. Emery is with NORC, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. A. Everette James is with the Health Policy Institute, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh. Joel Welling is with the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, Pittsburgh
| | - Chandler R Larkin
- Jason B. Colditz, Kar-Hai Chu, Chandler R. Larkin, and Brian A. Primack are with the Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA. Sherry L. Emery is with NORC, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. A. Everette James is with the Health Policy Institute, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh. Joel Welling is with the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, Pittsburgh
| | - A Everette James
- Jason B. Colditz, Kar-Hai Chu, Chandler R. Larkin, and Brian A. Primack are with the Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA. Sherry L. Emery is with NORC, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. A. Everette James is with the Health Policy Institute, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh. Joel Welling is with the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, Pittsburgh
| | - Joel Welling
- Jason B. Colditz, Kar-Hai Chu, Chandler R. Larkin, and Brian A. Primack are with the Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA. Sherry L. Emery is with NORC, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. A. Everette James is with the Health Policy Institute, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh. Joel Welling is with the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, Pittsburgh
| | - Brian A Primack
- Jason B. Colditz, Kar-Hai Chu, Chandler R. Larkin, and Brian A. Primack are with the Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA. Sherry L. Emery is with NORC, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. A. Everette James is with the Health Policy Institute, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh. Joel Welling is with the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, Pittsburgh
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Booth RG, Allen BN, Bray Jenkyn KM, Li L, Shariff SZ. Youth Mental Health Services Utilization Rates After a Large-Scale Social Media Campaign: Population-Based Interrupted Time-Series Analysis. JMIR Ment Health 2018; 5:e27. [PMID: 29625954 PMCID: PMC5938692 DOI: 10.2196/mental.8808] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2017] [Revised: 01/22/2018] [Accepted: 01/26/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Despite the uptake of mass media campaigns, their overall impact remains unclear. Since 2011, a Canadian telecommunications company has operated an annual, large-scale mental health advocacy campaign (Bell Let's Talk) focused on mental health awareness and stigma reduction. In February 2012, the campaign began to explicitly leverage the social media platform Twitter and incented participation from the public by promising donations of Can $0.05 for each interaction with a campaign-specific username (@Bell_LetsTalk). OBJECTIVE The intent of the study was to examine the impact of this 2012 campaign on youth outpatient mental health services in the province of Ontario, Canada. METHODS Monthly outpatient mental health visits (primary health care and psychiatric services) were obtained for the Ontario youth aged 10 to 24 years (approximately 5.66 million visits) from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2015. Interrupted time series, autoregressive integrated moving average modeling was implemented to evaluate the impact of the campaign on rates of monthly outpatient mental health visits. A lagged intervention date of April 1, 2012 was selected to account for the delay required for a patient to schedule and attend a mental health-related physician visit. RESULTS The inclusion of Twitter into the 2012 Bell Let's Talk campaign was temporally associated with an increase in outpatient mental health utilization for both males and females. Within primary health care environments, female adolescents aged 10 to 17 years experienced a monthly increase in the mental health visit rate from 10.2/1000 in April 2006 to 14.1/1000 in April 2015 (slope change of 0.094 following campaign, P<.001), whereas males of the same age cohort experienced a monthly increase from 9.7/1000 to 9.8/1000 (slope change of 0.052 following campaign, P<.001). Outpatient psychiatric services visit rates also increased for both male and female adolescents aged 10 to 17 years post campaign (slope change of 0.005, P=.02; slope change of 0.003, P=.005, respectively). For young adults aged 18 to 24 years, females who used primary health care experienced the most significant increases in mental health visit rates from 26.5/1000 in April 2006 to 29.2/1000 in April 2015 (slope change of 0.17 following campaign, P<.001). CONCLUSIONS The 2012 Bell Let's Talk campaign was temporally associated with an increase in the rate of mental health visits among Ontarian youth. Furthermore, there appears to be an upward trend of youth mental health utilization in the province of Ontario, especially noticeable in females who accessed primary health care services.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard G Booth
- Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| | - Britney N Allen
- Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, London, ON, Canada
| | | | - Lihua Li
- Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, London, ON, Canada
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60
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Rocha HM, Savatt JM, Riggs ER, Wagner JK, Faucett WA, Martin CL. Incorporating Social Media into your Support Tool Box: Points to Consider from Genetics-Based Communities. J Genet Couns 2018; 27:470-480. [PMID: 29130143 PMCID: PMC8340936 DOI: 10.1007/s10897-017-0170-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2017] [Accepted: 10/18/2017] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Patients with newly-described or rare genetic findings are turning to social media to find and connect with others. Blogs, Facebook groups, and Twitter have all been reported as tools for patients to connect with one another. However, the preferences for social media use and privacy among patients, their families, and these communities have not been well characterized. To explore preferences about privacy and membership guidelines, an online survey was administered to two web-based patient registries, Simons Variation in Individuals Project ( www.simonsvipconnect.org ) and GenomeConnect ( www.genomeconnect.org ). Over a three-month period, invitations were sent to 2524 individuals and 103 responses (4%) were received and analyzed. Responses indicate that Facebook is the most popular resource accessed within this sample population (99%). Participants used social media to look for information about their diagnosis or test results (83%), read posts from rare disease groups or organizations (73%), participate in conversations about their diagnosis (67%), and connect with others to find support (58%). Focusing on privacy issues in social media, respondents indicate that membership and access impact the level of comfort in sharing personal or medical information. Nearly 60% of respondents felt uncomfortable sharing photos or medical information within a public Facebook group, whereas only 12% of respondents felt uncomfortable sharing in private group targeted to families alone. Using this preliminary data concerning social media use and privacy, we developed points for genetic counselors to incorporate when discussing available support resources for patients with a new, or rare, genetic diagnosis or genetic test result. Genetic counselors are trained to provide anticipatory guidance to families adapting to new genetic information, and are well-equipped to help patients consider their preferences about using social media as a source of information and support.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heather Mae Rocha
- Genomic Medicine Institute, Geisinger, 100 N Academy Ave, MC 26-20, Danville, PA, 17822, USA.
| | - Juliann M Savatt
- Genomic Medicine Institute, Geisinger, 100 N Academy Ave, MC 26-20, Danville, PA, 17822, USA
- Autism & Developmental Medicine Institute, Geisinger, Lewisburg, PA, USA
| | - Erin Rooney Riggs
- Autism & Developmental Medicine Institute, Geisinger, Lewisburg, PA, USA
| | - Jennifer K Wagner
- Center for Translational Bioethics & Health Care Policy, Geisinger, Danville, PA, USA
| | - W Andrew Faucett
- Genomic Medicine Institute, Geisinger, 100 N Academy Ave, MC 26-20, Danville, PA, 17822, USA
| | - Christa Lese Martin
- Genomic Medicine Institute, Geisinger, 100 N Academy Ave, MC 26-20, Danville, PA, 17822, USA
- Autism & Developmental Medicine Institute, Geisinger, Lewisburg, PA, USA
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61
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Lueck JA. Examining determinants of seeking help for depression: implications for effective health promotion messages. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/17538068.2017.1417957] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer A. Lueck
- Department of Communication, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
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Chatterjee N, Rana S, Espinosa-Diez C, Anand S. MicroRNAs in Cancer: challenges and opportunities in early detection, disease monitoring, and therapeutic agents. CURRENT PATHOBIOLOGY REPORTS 2017; 5:35-42. [PMID: 28966883 PMCID: PMC5613763 DOI: 10.1007/s40139-017-0123-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW The goals of this review are to examine the usefulness of miRNAs as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for cancer and to evaluate the applicability of miRNAs as cancer therapeutics. RECENT FINDINGS Examination of miRNA milieu from body fluids offers a new alternative for quick, affordable and easy analysis of disease status in patients. Blood-based exosomal miRNAs have increased stability and are an excellent choice for clinical cancer diagnostics and prognostics. Currently, there are many miRNA signatures associated with cancer and progression but there is no consensus among multiple sera and tumor sample studies. Off-target and immunological effects remains an obstacle for use of miRNAs as novel chemotherapeutics in the clinic. Recent developments in nanotechnology and drug delivery systems which target the tumor microenvironment may provide an alternative therapeutic approach with decreased toxicity. SUMMARY This review critically evaluates the literature investigating the use of miRNAs as biomarkers and their future as potential therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Namita Chatterjee
- Department of Cell, Development and Cancer Biology, Oregon Health and Science University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, OR 97239
| | - Shushan Rana
- Department of Radiation Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, OR 97239
| | - Cristina Espinosa-Diez
- Department of Cell, Development and Cancer Biology, Oregon Health and Science University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, OR 97239
| | - Sudarshan Anand
- Department of Cell, Development and Cancer Biology, Oregon Health and Science University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, OR 97239
- Department of Radiation Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, OR 97239
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