A three-plasma miRNA panel predicts the risk of colorectal cancer: a community-based nested case‒control study

Plant miRNAs for Improved Gene Regulation in a Wide Range of Human Cancers

Determining the relationships between miRNA expression, target genes, and cancer development is critical to cancer research. The possibility of correlating miRNA expression with plant or artificial ones provides prerequisites for cancer treatment. Based on the broad database of human miRNA expression for all cancer types, we grade human miRNAs by their expression level. The identified deficient miRNAs are compared with their target genes for coincidences in their expression directions. The replacement of human miRNAs is proposed to be implemented, using plant miRNAs closest to the human-deficient ones. Such plant substitutes are identified by analyzing the average complementarity of all human under-expressed miRNAs. It was established that the number of downregulated miRNAs is almost 2.5 times greater than that of upregulated miRNAs. There is no significant correlation between the expression of miRNA and genes, implying many other expression regulation mechanisms exist. Working on the organization of experimental verification of the obtained statistical studies, we present significant regularities that provide grounds for considering some plant microRNAs as possible means of compensating for insufficient expression of regulatory microRNAs in humans and animals in a wide range of oncological diseases.

Recent Technologies towards Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications of Circulating Nucleic Acids in Colorectal Cancers

Liquid biopsy has emerged as a promising noninvasive approach for colorectal cancer (CRC) management. This review focuses on technologies detecting circulating nucleic acids, specifically circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and circulating RNA (cfRNA), as CRC biomarkers. Recent advancements in molecular technologies have enabled sensitive and specific detection of tumor-derived genetic material in bodily fluids. These include quantitative real-time PCR, digital PCR, next-generation sequencing (NGS), and emerging nanotechnology-based methods. For ctDNA analysis, techniques such as BEAMing and droplet digital PCR offer high sensitivity in detecting rare mutant alleles, while NGS approaches provide comprehensive genomic profiling. cfRNA detection primarily utilizes qRT-PCR arrays, microarray platforms, and RNA sequencing for profiling circulating microRNAs and discovering novel RNA biomarkers. These technologies show potential in early CRC detection, treatment response monitoring, minimal residual disease assessment, and tumor evolution tracking. However, challenges remain in standardizing procedures, optimizing detection limits, and establishing clinical utility across disease stages. This review summarizes current circulating nucleic acid detection technologies, their CRC applications, and discusses future directions for clinical implementation.

Pathogenesis and biomarkers of colorectal cancer by epigenetic alteration

Colorectal cancer (CRC) ranks third in cancer incidence and stands as the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally. CRC tumorigenesis results from a cumulative set of genetic and epigenetic alterations, disrupting cancer-regulatory processes like cell proliferation, metabolism, angiogenesis, cell death, invasion, and metastasis. Key epigenetic modifications observed in cancers encompass abnormal DNA methylation, atypical histone modifications, and irregularities in noncoding RNAs, such as microRNAs and long noncoding RNAs. The advancement in genomic technologies has positioned these genetic and epigenetic shifts as potential clinical biomarkers for CRC patients. This review concisely covers the fundamental principles of CRC-associated epigenetic changes, and examines in detail their emerging role as biomarkers for early detection, prognosis, and treatment response prediction.

miRNA as a Biomarker for the Early Detection of Colorectal Cancer

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short, non-coding RNA segments that can be detected in a variety of clinical samples, including serum, stool, and urine. While miRNAs were initially known for their effect on post-translational gene expression, the last decade of research has shown them to be promising biomarkers for the detection of many types of cancer. This paper explores the use of miRNA detection as a tool for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. We discuss the current state of miRNA detection, compare it to the existing CRC screening tools, and highlight the advantages and drawbacks of this approach from a clinical and logistical perspective. Our research finds that miRNA-based tests for CRC show great potential, but that widespread clinical adoption will be conditional on future research overcoming key hurdles.

Identification of combinatorial miRNA panels derived from extracellular vesicles as biomarkers for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are relatively stable in blood, emerging as one of the most promising biomarkers in tumor liquid biopsy. Both total and extracellular vesicles (EVs) encapsulated miRNA have been studied for prognostic potential in a variety of cancers. Here, we systematically compared and verified the total and vesicle-derived miRNA expression profiles from plasma samples in healthy controls and patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). In the present study, four miRNA species miR-636, miR-7641, miR-28-3p, and miR-1246 that were differentially expressed in ESCC patients were chosen for further study. We first elucidated their essential function in ESCC progression and further explored their preliminary mechanism by identifying target proteins and involving signal pathways. Subsequently, the prognostic miRNA panels including miR-636, miR-7641, miR-1246, and miR-28-3p for ESCC diagnosis were constructed and validated using different cohort. Our results showed that the panel including the above four miRNAs derived from plasma EVs was most effective in distinguishing tumor patients from normal subjects, while integrated plasma EVs-derived miR-1246, miR-28-3p and total plasma miRNAs miR-636, miR-7641 showed the best capability in predicting lymph node metastasis. In summary, our studies revealed that plasma EVs-derived miRNAs could be emerged as promising biomarkers for ESCC diagnosis.