Role of MicroRNAs in Progression and Recurrence of Early-Stage Lung Adenocarcinoma.
Even among Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer adenocarcinoma patients who have
been diagnosed early and where there has been no spread to lymph nodes, recurrence after
surgical intervention is high.
Improved understanding of the molecular alterations involved in aggressivity and
recurrence of these tumors may provide better biomarkers for the identification of patients who would benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy.
By comparing the expression of microRNAs in advanced Stage II/III tumors
with those expressed in earlier Stage I tumors, we aimed to identify differentially
expressed molecular biomarkers that could underly progression and recurrence of Stage I tumors.
This pilot study utilized TaqMan qPCR assays to assess the expression of microRNAs in
tumor tissue, matched normal tissue and plasma samples from Stage I and Stage II/III
lung adenocarcinoma patients. Seven microRNAs were identified from
plasma that could distinguish between patients with Stage I and Stage II/III adenocarcinoma.
The up-regulation of miR-29a in plasma of patients with later-stage adenocarcinoma would result in enhanced expression of several molecules involved in integrin signaling, migration and proliferation. Analysis of differential expression of microRNAs in later-stage compared to early-stage lung adenocarcinoma implicates focal adhesion and ECM-receptor pathways in progression and recurrence.
Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, accounting for 1.59 million of the 8.2 million total cancer deaths each year. NSCLC accounts for ~80% of all lung cancers, and adenocarcinoma is the main histological subtype.
Pulm Res Respir Med Open J. 2015; 2(1): 52-62. doi: 10.17140/PRRMOJ-2-108
