Circulating miRNAs as Potential Biomarkers in Prostate Cancer Patients Undergoing Radiotherapy

Disease recurrence is a major concern in patients with localized prostate cancer (PCa) following treatment with radiotherapy (RT), and few studies have evaluated the clinical relevance of microRNAs (miRNAs) prior and post-RT.

We aimed to investigate the significance of miRNAs in the outcomes of prostate cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy and to identify the related pathways through bioinformatics analysis.

The expression levels of miR-21, miR-106b, miR-141 and miR-375 involved in the response to radiotherapy were assessed by RT-qPCR in the serum of PCa patients (n=56) prior- and post-RT.

Low expression levels of miR-106b prior-RT were associated with extracapsular extension and seminal vesicles invasion by the tumor (p=0.031 and 0.044, respectively). In the high-risk subgroup (n=47), post-RT expression levels of miR-21 were higher in patients with biochemical relapse (BR) compared to non-relapse (p=0.043). Also, in the salvage treatment subgroup (post-operative BR; n=20), post-RT expression levels of miR-21 and miR-106b were higher in patients with BR compared to non-relapse (p=0.043 and p=0.032, respectively). In the whole group of patients, high expression levels of miR-21 prior-RT and of miR-106b post-RT were associated with significantly shorter overall survival (OS; p=0.049 and p=0.050, respectively). No associations were observed among miR-141 and miR-375 expression levels with clinicopathological features or treatment outcome. Bioinformatics analysis revealed significant enrichment in DNA damage response pathways.

Circulating miRNAs prior or post-RT may hold prognostic implications in patients with PCa.