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Updated: Dec 25, 2025
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miRNA Expression Analyses in Prostate Cancer Clinical Tissues
Published on: September 8, 2015
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Profiling of Circulating microRNAs in Prostate Cancer Reveals Diagnostic Biomarker Potential
Jacob Fredsøe1,2, Anne K I Rasmussen3, Peter Mouritzen3
1Department of Molecular Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark.
Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland)
|April 2, 2020
Summary
A new four microRNA blood test, bCaP, shows promise for early prostate cancer (PC) detection. This minimally invasive biomarker improves diagnostic accuracy compared to prostate specific antigen (PSA) alone.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Molecular Biology
- Biomarker Discovery
Background:
- Early prostate cancer (PC) detection is crucial for curable localized disease, but current diagnostic tools are inaccurate, leading to overtreatment and missed diagnoses.
- Minimally invasive and accurate biomarkers are needed to improve PC diagnosis and patient selection for biopsy.
- MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs with potential as diagnostic biomarkers in various cancers, including PC.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify novel plasma microRNA (miRNA) biomarkers for prostate cancer (PC) detection.
- To develop and validate a multi-miRNA diagnostic model for PC.
- To assess the diagnostic performance of the novel model in combination with existing clinical parameters.
Main Methods:
- RT-qPCR profiling of 92 selected miRNAs in plasma from 753 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), localized PC (LPC), advanced PC (APC), and controls.
- Comparative analysis of miRNA expression levels between patient groups.
- Development and validation of a four-miRNA diagnostic ratio model (bCaP) using training and test datasets.
- Evaluation of the bCaP model's predictive accuracy for transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided biopsy outcomes, alone and combined with PSA, digital rectal examination, and age.
Main Results:
- Significant dysregulation of multiple miRNAs was observed in PC patients compared to controls, with a notable overlap between BPH/LPC versus APC groups.
- A novel four-miRNA signature, bCaP (miR-375*miR-33a-5p/miR-16-5p*miR-409-3p), was identified and validated.
- The bCaP model, combined with clinical factors, demonstrated superior accuracy in predicting TRUS-guided biopsy outcomes (AUC 0.84 training, 0.67 test) compared to PSA alone (AUC 0.63 training, 0.56 test).
Conclusions:
- Plasma miRNAs represent promising minimally invasive biomarkers for prostate cancer detection.
- The novel bCaP four-miRNA signature offers improved accuracy for predicting biopsy outcomes compared to PSA alone.
- The bCaP test, integrated with clinical parameters, may enhance patient selection for prostate biopsy, reducing unnecessary procedures.
