MiRNA expression profiling and clinical implications in prostate cancer across various stages

This study aims to screen and identify microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles across different stages of prostate cancer (PCa) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) using high-throughput sequencing. The study seeks to determine whether specific miRNAs show consistent differential expression across various stages of PCa, with the goal of identifying potential biomarkers relevant to disease progression. In this study, a total of 12 specimens of PCa and BPH were collected from September 2021 to June 2022 in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, 330,006, P.R. China (including 3 specimens of early localized tumor, local invasion, and distant metastasis tumor and 3 specimens of BPH). The expression profile of miRNA was screened by high-throughput sequencing technology, and the differentially expressed miRNA between each group was screened by relevant bioinformatics analysis. Further targeted miRNA site analysis GO enrichment analysis and KEGG enrichment analysis of miRNA-derived genes were performed on the above differentially expressed miRNAs. Finally, the expression of hsa-miR-6715b-3p in PCa tissues was verified using qRT-PCR assay. A total of 1526 miRNAs were identified through high-throughput sequencing. By comparing groups, 228 differentially expressed miRNAs were identified, with 100 upregulated and 128 downregulated. Additionally, 69 novel miRNAs were predicted. qRT-PCR results showed that hsa-miR-6715b-3p was highly expressed in PCa tissues compared to BPH tissues. This study presents a preliminary investigation of the miRNA expression profiles in PCa and identifies hsa-miR-6715b-3p as a promising biomarker for disease progression. Our findings validate the high expression of hsa-miR-6715b-3p in PCa tissues and highlight its potential role in critical oncogenic pathways. These results provide a theoretical foundation for further functional studies to explore its clinical utility and its role in therapy resistance and disease progression, contributing to the growing knowledge of miRNA-based biomarkers in PCa.