Plasma microRNA192 in combination with serum CA19-9 as non-invasive prognostic biomarker in periampullary carcinoma

Serum miR-215-5p, miR-192-5p and miR-378a-5p as novel diagnostic biomarkers for periampullary adenocarcinoma

OBJECTIVE

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are present in human serum in a stable form. Circulating miRNAs are increasingly recognized as promising biomarkers for early cancer detection. The aim of this study was to identify serum miRNAs as biomarkers for periampullary adenocarcinoma (PAC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

68 patients with PAC and 50 healthy controls (HCs) subjects were recruited in this study. The expression levels of 11 selected miRNAs were determined in serum samples using the SYBR-green quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) method. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to evaluate the diagnostic potential of serum miRNAs.

RESULTS

The expression levels of three miRNAs (miR-215-5p, miR-192-5p, and miR-378a-5p) were significantly upregulated in the serum samples derived from the PAC patients compared with those from the HC (p < 0.001). The ROC analysis showed that all three significantly altered miRNAs (miR-215-5p, miR-192-5p, and miR-378a-5p) could potentially discriminate patients with PAC from HC with AUC value of 0.771 (95% CI: 0.684-0.843), 0.877 (95% CI: 0.799-0.927) and 0.768 (95% CI: 0.674-0.853) respectively. Further comparisons showed that these three serum miRNAs (miR-215-5p, miR-192-5p, and miR-378a-5p) can strongly discriminate early-stage PAC patients from HC with an AUC value of 0.802 (95% CI: 0.719-0.886), 0.870 (95% CI: 0.793-0.974) and 0.793 (95% CI: 0.706-0.880) respectively, may aid in early detection of PAC.

CONCLUSIONS

Taken together, our findings demonstrated that these three serum miRNAs (miR-215-5p, miR-192-5p, and miR-378a-5p) may serve as noninvasive biomarkers for the early detection of PAC.

Loss of bioactive microRNAs in cow's milk by ultra-high-temperature treatment but not by pasteurization treatment

BACKGROUND

Milk microRNA (miRNA) with bioactivity is beneficial for human health. However, the effect of heat treatment on miRNA in milk is still not clear. In this study, the miRNAs in raw (RM), pasteurized (PM) and ultra-high-temperature (UHT) milk (UM) from the same batch were extracted, sequenced and analyzed.

RESULTS

The results showed that there was a significant difference in miRNAs between RM and UM, but not between RM and PM. The total read counts of milk miRNAs were significantly decreased by heat treatment, with the least counts in UM (P < 0.05). The average length and GC percentage of miRNAs were significantly reduced by heat treatment (P < 0.05), while there was no significant difference in these terms between RM and PM. The content of miRNAs was verified by qPCR, finding that miR-17-5p, miR-25, miR-27b and miR-9-5p were significantly reduced in UM (P < 0.05) but not significantly affected in PM (except miR-27b). In addition, the targeting gene ontology enrichment functions of the different presented miRNAs were mostly enriched in biological process, cellular component and molecular function. The top 20 enriched miRNAs with different levels in heat-treated milk were identified by the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis. Interestingly, most of the functions of these miRNA targeting genes are involved in cancer or inflammation activity.

CONCLUSION

This study revealed that the bioactive miRNA in RM was lost after UHT treatment but not in pasteurized treatment. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Dynamic contract-enhanced CT-based radiomics for differentiation of pancreatobiliary-type and intestinal-type periampullary carcinomas

AIM

To investigate whether computed tomography (CT) radiomics can differentiate pancreatobiliary-type from intestinal-type periampullary carcinomas.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

CT radiomics of 96 patients (54 pancreatobiliary type and 42 intestinal type) with surgically confirmed periampullary carcinoma were assessed retrospectively. Volumes of interest (VOIs) were delineated manually. Radiomic features were extracted from preoperative CT images. A single-phase model and combined-phase model were constructed. Five-fold cross-validation and five machine-learning algorithms were utilised for model construction. The diagnostic performance of the models was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and indicators included area under the curve (AUC), accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and precision. ROC curves were compared using DeLong's test.

RESULTS

A total of 788 features were extracted on each phase. After feature selection using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) algorithm, the number of selected optimal feature was 18 (plain scan), nine (arterial phase), two (venous phase), 23 (delayed phase), 15 (three enhanced phases), and 29 (all phases), respectively. For the single-phase model, the delayed-phase model using the logistic regression (LR) algorithm showed the best prediction performance with AUC, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and precision of 0.89, 0.83, 0.80, 0.88, and 0.93, respectively. Two combined-phase models showed better results than the single-phase models. The model of all phases using the LR algorithm showed the best prediction performance with AUC, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and precision of 0.96, 0.88, 0.90, 0.93, and 0.92, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Radiomic models based on preoperative CT images can differentiate pancreatobiliary-type from intestinal-type periampullary carcinomas, in particular, the model of all phases using the LR algorithm.

Tumor-Suppressive miR-192-5p Has Prognostic Value in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by fast tumor progression and diagnosis at advanced, inoperable stages. Previous studies could demonstrate an involvement of miR-192-5p in epigenetic regulation of visceral carcinomas. Due to contradictory results, however, the clinical utility of miR-192-5p in PDAC has yet to be determined. MiR-192-5p expression was analyzed by RT-qRT-PCR in human PDAC and benign tissue (n = 78), blood serum (n = 81) and serum exosomes (n = 74), as well as in PDAC cell lines (n = 5), chemoresistant cell clones (n = 2), and pancreatic duct cell line H6c7. Analysis of EMT-associated (epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition) proteins was performed by immunohistochemistry and Western blot. MiR-192-5p was deregulated in PDAC as compared to healthy controls (HCs), with downregulation in macrodissected tissue (p < 0.001) and upregulation in blood serum of PDAC UICC (Union for International Cancer Control) stage IV (p = 0.016) and serum exosomes of PDAC UICC stages II to IV (p < 0.001). MiR-192-5p expression in tumor tissue was significantly lower as compared to corresponding peritumoral tissue (PDAC UICC stage II: p < 0.001; PDAC UICC stage III: p = 0.024), while EMT markers ZEB1 and ZEB2 were more frequently expressed in tumor tissue as compared to peritumoral tissue, HCs, and chronic pancreatitis. Tissue-derived (AUC of 0.86; p < 0.0001) and exosomal (AUC of 0.83; p = 0.0004) miR-192-5p could differentiate between PDAC and HCs with good accuracy. Furthermore, high expression of miR-192-5p in PDAC tissue of curatively resected PDAC patients correlated with prolonged overall and recurrence-free survival in multivariate analysis. In vitro, miR-192-5p was downregulated in gemcitabine-resistant cell clones of AsPC-1 (p = 0.029). Transient transfection of MIA PaCa-2 cells with miR-192-5p mimic resulted in downregulation of ZEB2. MiR-192-5p seems to possess a tumor-suppressive role and high potential as a diagnostic and prognostic marker in PDAC.

Exosomal miRNA signatures of pancreatic lesions

BACKGROUND

Pancreatic and peri-pancreatic neoplasms encompass a variety of histotypes characterized by a heterogeneous prognostic impact. miRNAs are considered efficient candidate biomarkers due to their high stability in tissues and body fluids. We applied Nanostring profiling of circulating exosomal miRNAs to distinct pancreatic lesions in order to establish a source for biomarker development.

METHODS

A series of 140 plasma samples obtained from patients affected by pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC, n = 58), pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNET, n = 42), intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMN, n = 20), and ampulla of Vater carcinomas (AVC, n = 20) were analyzed. Comprehensive miRNA profiling was performed on plasma-derived exosomes. Relevant miRNAs were validated by qRT-PCR and in situ hybridization (ISH).

RESULTS

Lesion specific miRNAs were identified through multiple disease comparisons. Selected miRNAs were validated in the plasma by qRT-PCR and at tissue level by ISH. We leveraged the presence of clinical subtypes with each disease cohort to identify miRNAs that are differentially enriched in aggressive phenotypes.

CONCLUSIONS

This study shows that pancreatic lesions are characterized by specific exosomal-miRNA signatures. We also provide the basis for further explorations in order to better understand the relevance of these signatures in pancreatic neoplasms.

Circulating microRNAs as potential cancer biomarkers: the advantage and disadvantage

MicroRNAs are endogenous single-stranded non-coding small RNA molecules that can be secreted into the circulation and exist stably. They usually exhibit aberrant expression under different physiological and pathological conditions. Recently, differentially expressed circulating microRNAs were focused on as potential biomarkers for cancer screening. We herein review the role of circulating microRNAs for cancer diagnosis, tumor subtype classification, chemo- or radio-resistance monitoring, and outcome prognosis. Moreover, circulating microRNAs still have several issues hindering their reliability for the practical clinical application. Future studies need to elucidate further potential application of circulating microRNAs as specific and sensitive markers for clinical diagnosis or prognosis in cancers.