ANALYSIS OF PLASMA MIRNA-497 LEVELS IN THE BLOOD OF PATIENTS WITH BREAST CANCER

Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with a variable clinical course, morphological and clinical features. In clinical observation, we attempted to study the correlation between clinical characteristics of breast cancer patients and plasma miRNA-497 concentration as a possible pathogenic molecular disease factor and a diagnostic indicator. It was established that miRNA-497 levels were significantly higher in the plasma of premenopausal compared to menopausal women, while the opposite is true for healthy women. We did not find a link between miRNA-497 levels and tumor size and clinical stage, though a weak positive correlation between miRNA-497 levels and the N0-N3 stage was noted, with a pronounced increase at the N3 stage, which was reliable in the group of patients after APCT. miRNA-497 levels after the first and second courses of NPCT did not differ statistically significant. There was no correlation between miRNA-497 concentration and the molecular subtype of breast cancer, and the difference between patients with HER2+ type and the triple-negative type was not convincing due to the small patient sample size. Also, no connection was found between the analyzed miRNA-497 levels and follow-up results, and positive initial results require additional research and analysis. In conclusion, analysis of miRNA-497 levels can be useful in the study of the molecular type and stage of breast cancer. Prospects for further research are in analyzing this indicator in a larger sample of breast cancer patients, obtaining remote follow-up results, and comparison with other types of miRNA.