Plasma-Derived Exosome MiR-19b Acts as a Diagnostic Marker for Pancreatic Cancer

Lei Wang; Jinxiang Wu; Naikuan Ye; Feng Li; Hanxiang Zhan; Shihong Chen; Jianwei Xu

doi:10.3389/fonc.2021.739111

Plasma-Derived Exosome MiR-19b Acts as a Diagnostic Marker for Pancreatic Cancer

Front Oncol. 2021 Sep 13:11:739111. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2021.739111. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Lei Wang¹, Jinxiang Wu², Naikuan Ye^{1

3}, Feng Li¹, Hanxiang Zhan¹, Shihong Chen^{1

3}, Jianwei Xu^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pancreatic Surgery, General Surgery, Qilu Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
² Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Qilu Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
³ Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
⁴ School of Medicine, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China.

Abstract

Background: Diagnosis of pancreatic cancer (Pca) is challenging. This study investigated the value of plasma-derived exosome miR-19b (Exo-miR-19b) in diagnosing patients with Pca.

Methods: Plasma was collected from 62 patients with Pca, 30 patients with other pancreatic tumor (OPT), 23 patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP), and 53 healthy volunteers. MiR-19b levels in plasma-derived exosomes were detected.

Results: Plasma-derived Exo-miR-19b levels normalized using miR-1228 were significantly lower in Pca patients than in patients with OPT, CP patients, and healthy volunteers. The diagnostic values of Exo-miR-19b normalized using miR-1228 were superior to those of serum cancer antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) in differentiating Pca patients from healthy volunteers (area under the curve (AUC): 0.942 vs. 0.813, p = 0.0054), potentially better than those of CA19-9 in differentiating Pca patients from CP patients (AUC: 0.898 vs. 0.792, p = 0.0720), and equivalent to those of CA19-9 in differentiating Pca patients from patients with OPT (AUC: 0.810 vs. 0.793, p = 0.8206). When normalized using Caenorhabditis elegans miR-39 (cel-miR-39), Exo-miR-19b levels in Pca patients were significantly higher than those in patients with OPT, CP patients, and healthy volunteers. The diagnostic values of Exo-miR-19b normalized using cel-miR-39 were equivalent to those of CA19-9 in differentiating Pca patients from healthy volunteers (AUC: 0.781 vs. 0.813, p = 0.6118) and CP patients (AUC: 0.672 vs. 0.792, p = 0.1235), while they were inferior to those of CA19-9 in differentiating Pca patients from patients with OPT (AUC: 0.631 vs. 0.793, p = 0.0353).

Conclusion: Plasma-derived Exo-miR-19b is a promising diagnostic marker for Pca. The diagnostic value of plasma-derived Exo-miR-19b normalized using miR-1228 is superior to that of serum CA19-9 in differentiating patients with Pca from healthy volunteers.

Keywords: biomarker; exosome; liquid biopsy; macrophages; miRNA; pancreatic cancer.