Image: INCLIVA
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INCLIVE | Thursday, March 4, 2021
An investigation by the INCLIVA Health Research Institute, of the Valencia Clinical Hospital, directed by Dr. Juan Miguel Cejalvo -of the Breast Cancer Biology Research Group- and Dr. Pilar Eroles, Co-coordinator of this Group-, both researchers from the CIBER for Cancer (CIBERONC), confirm the efficacy of circulating microRNA-30b as a diagnostic marker for breast cancer, as well as its ability to detect any of the three subtypes of breast cancer even in its earliest stage.
The results of the study were recently published in ESMO Open in an article entitled ‘Circulating miR-30b-5p levels in plasma as a novel potential biomarker for early detection of breast cancer’, whose first signatory is Anna Adam-Artigues, a researcher from the aforementioned INCLIVA group and beneficiary of one of the Predoctoral grants from the Spanish Association against Cancer (AECC) in Valencia. Researchers Ana Lluch, Begoña Bermejo, Iris Garrido-Cano, Soraya Simón, Belén Ortega, Santiago Moragón, Ana Lameirinhas and Octavio Burgués also participated in the research. On the part of the Portuguese Institute of Oncology (IPO) of Porto, they have intervened Vera Constancio, Sofia Salta, Rui Henrique and Carmen Jerónimo.
The research was carried out with the objective of evaluating the potential of circulating miR-30b-5p microRNA in blood plasma as a diagnostic marker for breast cancer. MicroRNAs are short RNA sequences that can be expelled by cells into the bloodstream and detected by PCR.
In the first place, it was observed, in more than a hundred breast tumor samples from patients at the Hospital Clínico de València, that this microRNA was differentially expressed in tumor tissue compared to healthy breast tissue. Next, it was evaluated whether this difference was maintained in the level of circulating microRNA in blood.
For this, around 100 blood plasma samples were collected from breast cancer patients at the Hospital Clínico de València and another 100 healthy donors available in the INCLIVA Biobank. In these 200 samples, it was confirmed that the level of microRNA-30b is a potential diagnostic marker for breast cancer. To validate this finding, a collaboration was established with the Porto IPO, where around 50 plasma samples were collected from breast cancer patients and another 50 from healthy donors. In this second set of samples, the efficacy of circulating microRNA-30b as a diagnostic marker for breast cancer was confirmed. Furthermore, it was shown that circulating microRNA-30b is capable of detecting any of the three subtypes of breast cancer even in its earliest stage. On the other hand, it was observed that metastatic patients present higher levels of microRNA-30b in the blood than non-metastatic patients.
The samples were provided by the INCLIVA Biobank in collaboration with the Pathological Anatomy department of the Hospital Clínico de València, Red Valenciana de Biobancos and Biobanco IPO-Porto.
This study has been financed by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, FEDER funds (PI18 / 01219). Anna Adam-Artigues has a predoctoral grant from the AECC València and Juan Miguel Cejalvo, with a Río Hortega grant from the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology. The study has had the financial help of the Amunt Contra el Càncer de Dénia and Ágora-Foia de Castalla associations.
Study reference:
Circulating miR-30b-5p levels in plasma as a novel potential biomarker for early detection of breast cancer
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2059702920329057
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