miR-Test: A Blood Test for Lung Cancer Early Detection

Abstract

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Low-dose computed tomography screening (LDCT) was recently shown to anticipate the time of diagnosis, thus reducing lung cancer mortality. However, concerns persist about the feasibility and costs of large-scale LDCT programs. Such concerns may be addressed by clearly defining the target "high-risk" population that needs to be screened by LDCT. We recently identified a serum microRNA signature (the miR-Test) that could identify the optimal target population. Here, we performed a large-scale validation study of the miR-Test in high-risk individuals (n = 1115) enrolled in the Continuous Observation of Smoking Subjects (COSMOS) lung cancer screening program. The overall accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the miR-Test are 74.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 72.2% to 77.6%), 77.8% (95% CI = 64.2% to 91.4%), and 74.8% (95% CI = 72.1% to 77.5%), respectively; the area under the curve is 0.85 (95% CI = 0.78 to 0.92). These results argue that the miR-Test might represent a useful tool for lung cancer screening in high-risk individuals.

miRNAs as Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Current Perspectives

“…However, a high rate of false positive results associated with LDCT screening opened a debate over the cost-effectiveness of LDCT screening programs and the potential harms related to overdiagnosis and radiation-induced cancers. In view of personalised medicine, the potential role for specific, miRNAbased biomarkers to complement the radiological modalities and increase the total sensitivity and specificity of the lung cancer screening process is currently being investigated [6,7].…”

Future microfluidic and nanofluidic modular platforms for nucleic acid liquid biopsy in precision medicine

“…[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][50][51][52][53][54][55] Reliable quantification of mRNA and microRNA levels for diagnostic and prognostic purposes requires optimal RNA quality and quantity. However, the different instances along the RNA and miRNA analysis workflow can lead to length, sequence, and structure-specific biases in the final expression analysis of a given set of small RNAs.…”

“…Equipment and analysis costs, throughput, and normalization 6,7 still represent obstacles for large-scale nucleic acid biomarker validation [8][9][10][11][12][13][14] and adoption in the clinics [15][16][17] Differences in the nucleic acid purification method, detection technology, and laboratory protocol often lead to different profiling results. Consequently, interpretation of differential expression data and comparisons across different studies has to be done with a note of caution, as standard deviations can span several orders of magnitude.…”

Early Diagnosis with 11-Gene Panel Screening for Non Small Cell Lung Cancer

“…Therefore, one of the major challenges for lung cancer lies in early precision diagnosis. Currently, routine clinical diagnostic methods includes tumor markers detection, computed tomography screening, histopathological detection and so on which are basically from the point of serology, imaging and pathology [9] and the optimal means of diagnosis are uncertain and lack of data of precision medicine owing to the involvement of different tumors, patient and health-care factors, often in combination [10]. Numerous genetic alterations associated with lung cancer have been identified that might contribute to the development of specific types of lung cancer, patterns of metastasis, drug resistance, or disease recurrence [11].…”