Salivary microRNAs Show Potential as a Noninvasive Biomarker for Detecting Resectable Pancreatic Cancer

Abstract

Early surgery is vital in the treatment of pancreatic cancer, which is often fatal. However, there is currently no useful noninvasive biomarker to screen for pancreatic cancer. Studies have documented that many salivary molecules can be used to detect systemic diseases. We investigated whether salivary miRNAs are useful biomarkers for detecting resectable pancreatic cancer. Using an Agilent microarray, salivary miRNAs were profiled from saliva samples of 8 patients with resectable pancreatic cancer and 8 healthy controls. Candidate biomarkers identified in the profiles were subjected to validation using quantitative PCR and an independent sample set of 40 patients with pancreatic cancer, 20 with benign pancreatic tumors (BPT), and 40 healthy controls. The validated salivary miRNA biomarkers were evaluated within three discriminatory categories: pancreatic cancer versus healthy control, pancreatic cancer versus BPT, and pancreatic cancer versus noncancer (healthy control þ BPT). miR-3679-5p showed significant downregulation in the pancreatic cancer group within the three categories (P ¼ 0.008, 0.007, and 0.002, respectively), whereas miR-940 showed significant upregulation in pancreatic cancer (P ¼ 0.006, 0.004, and 0.0001, respectively). Logistic regression models combining the two salivary miRNAs were able to distinguish resectable pancreatic cancer within the three categories, showing sensitivities of 72.5%, 62.5%, and 70.0% and specificities of 70.0%, 80.0%, and 70.0%, respectively. Salivary miR-3679-5p and miR-940 possess good discriminatory power to detect resectable pancreatic cancer, with reasonable specificity and sensitivity. This report provides a new method for the early detection of pancreatic cancer and other systemic diseases by assessing salivary miRNAs. Cancer Prev Res; 8(2); 165-73. Ó2014AACR.

MicroRNAs in Psychological Stress Reactions and Their Use as Stress-Associated Biomarkers, Especially in Human Saliva

“…Up until now, the potential of salivary miRNAs has mainly been described to be possibly useful for the detection and assessment of cancer, especially for oral cancer (squamous cell carcinoma) [81] esophageal cancer [82], and even pancreatic cancer [83], as well as in sputum as a mix of saliva and tracheal secretion also for non-small cell lung cancer [84]. Aside from cancer diagnostics, specific expression patterns of salivary miRNAs can also be used for the detection of autoimmune diseases.…”

Oral Health: The Need for Both Conventional Microbial and Molecular Characterization

“…With respect to metabolic diseases, 65 proteins are differentially expressed in the saliva of patients with type II diabetes mellitus [26]. There is potential for advancement in cancer salivary diagnostics as well; proteins, mRNA and miRNA have been shown to have distinct patterns in patients with breast cancer [27], head and neck squamous cell carcinoma [28], lung cancer [29], oral squamous cell carcinoma [30], and resectable pancreatic cancer [31] (Table 3). …”

Noncoding RNAs in Cancer Diagnosis

“…Xie et al [ 217 ] used an Agilent microarray and validated candidate biomarkers in 40 patients with pancreatic cancer, 20 with benign pancreatic tumors (BPT), and 40 healthy controls. miR-3679-5p showed signifi cant downregulation in the pancreatic cancer group within the three categories (P = 0.008, 0.007, and 0.002, respectively), whereas miR-940 showed signifi cant upregulation in pancreatic cancer (P = 0.006, 0.004, and 0.0001, respectively).…”