The potential of piR-823 as a diagnostic biomarker in oncology: A systematic review

Eun Jung Sohn; Myoung-Eun Han; Young Mok Park; Yun Hak Kim; Sae-Ock Oh

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0294685

The potential of piR-823 as a diagnostic biomarker in oncology: A systematic review

PLoS One. 2023 Dec 7;18(12):e0294685. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0294685. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Eun Jung Sohn^{1

2}, Myoung-Eun Han^{1

2}, Young Mok Park³, Yun Hak Kim^{2

4}, Sae-Ock Oh^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Research Center for Molecular Control of Cancer Cell Diversity, Pusan National University, Yangsan, Republic of Korea.
² Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Pusan National University, Yangsan, Republic of Korea.
³ Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Pusan National University, Yangsan, Republic of Korea.
⁴ Department of Biomedical Informatics, School of Medicine, Pusan National University, Yangsan, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

Background: Emerging evidence has demonstrated that PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) play important roles in various physiological processes and contribute to cancer progression. Moreover, piRNAs and PIWI protein levels are associated with the prognosis and chemoresistance of various cancers. The limitations of biomarkers challenge early detection and monitoring of chemoresistance and cancer relapse.

Methods: To evaluate the potential of piRNA as a diagnostic biomarker in oncology, we systematically reviewed previous studies on the subject. PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases were searched to evaluate the diagnostic relevance of piRNAs in cancer. Eighteen studies (2,352 patients) were included. The quality of each study was evaluated with AMSTAR and QUADAS-2 tool.

Results & conclusions: The area under the curve (AUC) values of 26 piRNAs in patients with cancer ranged from 0.624 to 0.978, with piR-9491 showing the highest value (0.978). The sensitivity of the total of 21 piRNAs in cancer patients was between 42.86 and 100, with piR-9491 showing the highest sensitivity (100). The specificity of these 21 piRNAs ranged from 60.10 to 96.67 (with piR-018569 showing the highest specificity (96.67)). Their odds ratios were between 1.61 and 44.67, and piR-12488 showed the highest odds ratio (44.67). Generally, the piRNAs in this review showed better sensitivity and AUC values than current clinical diagnostic biomarkers, although current biomarkers appear to be more specific. Reviewed piRNAs showed better diagnostic performance than currently used clinical biomarkers. Notably, piR-823 showed a significant diagnostic performance in four types of cancer (colorectal, esophageal, gastric, and renal cell cancer). However, all 18 studies included in this review were a case-control study. So, further prospective studies are required for their validation.

Copyright: © 2023 Sohn et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Systematic Review

MeSH terms

Biomarkers, Tumor / genetics
Case-Control Studies
Humans
Kidney Neoplasms*
Neoplasm Recurrence, Local
Piwi-Interacting RNA*
RNA, Small Interfering / metabolism

Substances

Piwi-Interacting RNA
RNA, Small Interfering
Biomarkers, Tumor

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the Medical Research Center (MRC) Program (NRF- 2022R1A5A2027161) and from the Bio&Medical Technology Development Program (No. RS-2023-00223764) of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Korean government (MSIT). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.