Spotlight: miRNA as biomarker in lung cancer
miRNA sequencing for biomarker discovery
Introduction
In this article, the authors highlight the importance of miRNAs and present the existing evidence of their relationship with lung cancer. miRNA molecules regulate gene expression and play a critical role not only as diagnostic biomarkers but also in therapeutic and prognostic applications.
Main Points
- miRNAs can act as oncogenes and tumor suppressors due to their well-known role as regulators of post-transcriptional gene expression.
- miRNAs can play an essential role in tumor proliferation, migration, inhibition of apoptosis, and angiogenesis. One of the most studied is the let-7 family which plays an essential role in tumour progression.
- Different miRNA families have been studied as diagnostic biomarkers using liquid biopsies. Both the overexpression and repression of certain miRNAs have been linked with tumor progression. In addition, miRNAs can also help differentiate between different types of neoplasms.
- Several studies have shown the role of miRNAs as prognostic biomarkers related to both lower and increased survival rates. Additionally, hsa-miR-125b could help reduce the number of metastases in patients with NSCLC, along with hsa-miR-133b, which correlates with tumor stage, degree of invasion, and EGFR expression.
- miRNAs may play an important role not only in prognosis but also in treatment. Several studies have shown that miRNAs can help predict the response to treatment.
Conclusion
The high prevalence and mortality rates of lung cancer are primarily due to its late-stage diagnosis, which limits treatment options. Biomarkers such as miRNAs have proven valuable for diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis, and can also be detected in more accessible samples, enabling faster diagnosis.
EPISTEM SERVICES
Similar to the techniques outlined in this paper, Epistem regularly employs qPCR and NGS services for gene expression, whole-exome, genotyping and epigenetic analysis from fresh, frozen and FFPE tissue.
Laser Capture Microdissection (LCM) is a powerful tool used at Epistem to select individual cells from a population in a tissue for input into downstream histochemical profiling or transcriptomic analysis.
The Histology and Immunohistochemistry team at Epistem have a wealth of experience in developing IHC protocols for a range of biological targets. Our deep understanding of IHC methodology has allowed us to develop and troubleshoot hundreds of working protocols for both automated (Ventana Discovery Ultra) and manual applications. We offer a bespoke service which could be suited to your project. We can work readily with FFPE, frozen tissues, with chromogenic and fluorescent detection systems as well as RNAScope methodologies.
Epistem offers pre-clinical human cancer models (including lung cancer) to assess the efficacy of cancer therapies as single agents or in combination with chemo- and/or local radio-therapy. To aid in the assessment we have a Cytation 5 live-cell imaging system and a 15 colour Novocyte flow cytometer, which gives the opportunity to evaluate treatment effects and elucidate the function of specific immune cell types in vitro and ex vivo.