Circulating microRNA-99 family as liquid biopsy marker in pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Recently, we identified the microRNA-99 family as unfavorable prognostic factor in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). The aim of this study is to evaluate its value as circulating biomarker for PDAC.

Tissue and corresponding preoperative blood samples of 181 patients with PDAC UICC Stages I–IV (n = 90), intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN, n = 11), chronic pancreatitis (n = 40), pancreatic cystadenoma (n = 20), and age-matched healthy blood serum controls (n = 20) were collected between 2014 and 2017 prospectively. Expression of microRNA-21 as confirmatory marker and the microRNA-99 family, consisting of microRNA-99a, -99b, and -100, was analyzed by qRT-PCR. Target analysis of insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) was performed using tissue array immunohistochemistry and Western blotting.

Expression of microRNA-99 family members was significantly increased in macrodissected tumor tissue and corresponding blood serum samples (p < 0.05) of patients with PDAC of all stages. Correspondingly, its target protein IGF1R was upregulated (p < 0.001) in carcinoma tissue. Circulating and tissue-related microRNA-100 could well discriminate PDAC from healthy samples with area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) values of 0.81 and 0.85, respectively. Low expression of circulating microRNA-100 was associated with significantly improved overall survival (p = 0.004) and recurrence-free survival (p = 0.03) in multivariate analyses. Circulating microRNA-21 was overexpressed in PDAC with fair discrimination between PDAC and healthy controls (AUC = 0.71) and decreased overall survival (p = 0.046) and recurrence-free survival (p = 0.03) in PDAC patients.

Multivariate survival and ROC analyses identified circulating microRNA-100 as potential diagnostic and prognostic marker in PDAC patients.