Circulating Pre-microRNA-488 in Peripheral Blood Is a Potential Biomarker for Predicting Recurrence in Breast Cancer

Abstract

Background/aim: Circulating microRNAs (miRs) in blood have been highlighted as diagnostic, prognostic and predictive biomarkers for "Precision medicine". This study aimed to explore the possibility of using circulating precursor miRs (pre-miRs) as clinical biomarkers of recurrence in breast cancer.

Materials and methods: We performed miR microarray analyses of circulating miRs in blood from patients with or without recurrence of breast cancer and identified miR-488-5p as a recurrence-related miR. Then, the expression levels of pre-miR-488 or miR-488-5p were measured by RT-qPCR and the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of circulating pre-miR-488 was assessed in the blood of breast cancer patients.

Results: A positive correlation was noted between pre-miR-488 and miR-488-5p expression in blood. In 330 cases of surgically-treated breast cancer, high expression of circulating pre-miR-488 was an independent poor prognostic factor for recurrence-free survival.

Conclusion: Circulating pre-miR-488 expression could be a novel prognostic biomarker for predicting recurrence in breast cancer patients.

Keywords: Pre-miR-488; biomarker; breast cancer; liquid biopsy.