LiKidMiRs: A ddPCR-Based Panel of 4 Circulating miRNAs for Detection of Renal Cell Carcinoma

• Published in: Cancers Vol. 14; no. 4; p. 858
• Main Authors: Sequeira, José Pedro, Constâncio, Vera, Salta, Sofia, Lobo, João, Barros-Silva, Daniela, Carvalho-Maia, Carina, Rodrigues, Jéssica, Braga, Isaac, Henrique, Rui, Jerónimo, Carmen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 09-02-2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Biomarkers; Biopsy; Blood & organ donations; Gene expression; Kidney cancer; MicroRNAs; miRNA; Optimization; Patients; Pipelines; Plasma; Renal cell carcinoma; Software; Tumors; Validity; United States > US; ddPCR; circulating miRNA; diagnosis; renal cell carcinoma; malignancy
• ISSN: 2072-6694; 2072-6694
• DOI: 10.3390/cancers14040858

Decreased renal cell cancer-related mortality is an important societal goal, embodied by efforts to develop effective biomarkers enabling early detection and increasing the likelihood of curative treatment. Herein, we sought to develop a new biomarker for early and minimally invasive detection of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) based on a microRNA panel assessed by ddPCR.
Plasma samples from patients with RCC (
= 124) or oncocytomas (
= 15), and 64 healthy donors, were selected. Hsa-miR-21-5p, hsa-miR-126-3p, hsa-miR-155-5p and hsa-miR-200b-3p levels were evaluated using a ddPCR protocol.
RCC patients disclosed significantly higher circulating levels of hsa-miR-155-5p compared to healthy donors, whereas the opposite was observed for hsa-miR-21-5p levels. Furthermore, hsa-miR-21-5p and hsa-miR-155-5p panels detected RCC with high sensitivity (82.66%) and accuracy (71.89%). The hsa-miR-126-3p/hsa-miR-200b-3p panel identified the most common RCC subtype (clear cell, ccRCC) with 74.78% sensitivity.
Variable combinations of plasma miR levels assessed by ddPCR enable accurate detection of RCC in general, and of ccRCC. These findings, if confirmed in larger studies, provide evidence for a novel ancillary tool which might aid in early detection of RCC.