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Updated: Mar 16, 2026
MicroRNA Detection in Prostate Tumors by Quantitative Real-time PCR qPCR
Published on: May 16, 2012
The utility of urine-circulating miRNAs for detection of prostate cancer
Kristina Stuopelyte1, Kristina Daniunaite1, Arnas Bakavicius2
1Division of Human Genome Research Centre, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Vilnius University, Sauletekio Avenue 7, Vilnius LT-10222, Lithuania.
Background:
In this paper, the utility of urine-circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) as the potential biomarker of prostate cancer (PCa), the second most prevalent male cancer worldwide, was evaluated.
Methods:
Cancerous (N=56) and non-cancerous (N=16) prostate tissues were analysed on TaqMan Low Density Array, with the initial screening of 754 miRNAs in a subset of the samples. The abundance of selected miRNAs was analysed in urine specimens from two independent cohorts of patients with PCa (N=215 overall), benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH; N=23), and asymptomatic controls (ASC; N=62) by means of quantitative reverse transcription PCR.
Results:
Over 100 miRNAs were found deregulated in PCa as compared with non-cancerous prostate tissue. After thorough validation, four miRNAs were selected for the analysis in urine specimens. The abundance of miR-148a and miR-375 in urine was identified as specific biomarkers of PCa in both cohorts. Combined analysis of urine-circulating miR-148a and miR-375 was highly sensitive and specific for PCa in both cohorts (AUC=0.79 and 0.84) and strongly improved the diagnostic power of the PSA test (AUC=0.85, cohort PCa1), including the grey diagnostic zone (AUC=0.90).
Conclusions:
Quantitative measurement of urine-circulating miR-148a and miR-375 can serve as the non-invasive tool for sensitive and specific detection of PCa.
