Novel Epigenetic Biomarkers in Pregnancy-Related Disorders and Cancers

Abstract

As the majority of cancers and gestational diseases are prognostically stage- and grade-dependent, the ultimate goal of ongoing studies in precision medicine is to provide early and timely diagnosis of such disorders. These studies have enabled the development of various new diagnostic biomarkers, such as free circulating nucleic acids, and detection of their epigenetic changes. Recently, extracellular vesicles including exosomes, microvesicles, oncosomes, and apoptotic bodies have been recognized as powerful diagnostic tools. Extracellular vesicles carry specific proteins, lipids, DNAs, mRNAs, and miRNAs of the cells that produced them, thus reflecting the function of these cells. It is believed that exosomes, in particular, may be the optimal biomarkers of pathological pregnancies and cancers, especially those that are frequently diagnosed at an advanced stage, such as ovarian cancer. In the present review, we survey and critically appraise novel epigenetic biomarkers related to free circulating nucleic acids and extracellular vesicles, focusing especially on their status in trophoblasts (pregnancy) and neoplastic cells (cancers).

Isolation of Cell-Free miRNA from Biological Fluids: Influencing Factors and Methods

“…References Membrane-coated microparticles Apoptotic bodies (0.1-5 µm) [15][16][17] Microvesicles (>0.5 µm) [17][18][19][20][21][22][23] Ectosomes (100-600 nm) [24] Oncosomes (1-10 µm) [17,25,26] Exosomes (30-150 nm) [17,18,22,24,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33]] Specific microvesicles (prostasomes (50 nm-0.5 µm), melanosomes (>0.5 µm), 'platelet dust' (~130-500 nm)) [33][34][35][36][37] Membrane-free microparticles High-density lipoproteins (HDL) [23,[38][39][40][41][42] Low-density lipoproteins (LDL) [39,40,42] Various RNA-binding proteins (for example, AGO1, AGO2, nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1), Tamm-Horsfall protein (THP), etc.) [23,[43][44][45][46][47][48]…”

“…Membrane-coated microparticles Apoptotic bodies (0. [17,18,22,24,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33]] Specific microvesicles (prostasomes (50 nm-0.5 µm), melanosomes (>0.5 µm), 'platelet dust' (~130-500 nm)) [33][34][35][36][37] Membrane-free microparticles High-density lipoproteins (HDL) [23,[38][39][40][41][42] Low-density lipoproteins (LDL) [39,40,42] Various RNA-binding proteins (for example, AGO1, AGO2, nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1), Tamm-Horsfall protein (THP), etc.) [23,[43][44][45][46][47][48][49] Exomeres (~35 nm (<50 nm)) [50,51] miRNAs associated with the surface of blood cells [27,32]…”

miRNAs as Key Players in the Management of Cutaneous Melanoma

“…Tumor-derived exosomes also play a role in epigenetic regulation. They contain various enzymes that are involved in the synthesis and regulation of miRNAs, the most abundant RNAs in exosomes (exo-miRNA) [105]. In the past few years, miRNA profiles of tumor exosomes were found to be correlated with tumor burden or disease risk and thus, the detection of exo-miRNA has been indicated as a promising, non-invasive method for cancer diagnosis and a new tool for drug delivery [106].…”

Introductory Chapter: An Overview to the Extracellular Vesicles

“…EVs participate in pathogenesis and can also be used as diagnosis or vaccines [33,35,43]. Last novel applications for EVs include using their signaling properties to repair injured muscle or use them as biomarkers for male infertility or pregnancy-related disorders [44][45][46].…”