Exploring potent miRNA combinations for detecting early-stage breast cancer

Breast cancer (BC) is the most prevalent cancer among women globally. Identifying BC at its early stage is of significant importance; however, due to the limited resolution and the accompanying adverse events of the current detection methods, including mammography, in clinical practice, it remains challenging. Minimally invasive screening would be a promising solution to overcome these constraints. In the current study, we identified serum microRNAs (miRNAs) that could serve as potential targets for recognizing early-stage BC. We quantitatively measured the expression changes of 14 miRNAs in the blood sera of our study cohort that enrolled 59 patients with BC and 42 healthy volunteers. Subsequently, we selected the most prominent correlated multiple miRNAs that can discriminate well between BC patients and healthy subjects. Moreover, we supported the relevance of our findings using an external validation dataset, including 115 BC patients and 81 healthy individuals. Nonetheless, our study unveiled that implementing the regular monitoring of miR-96+miR-15a+miR-16, miR-96+miR-195+miR-15a+miR-16, and miR-96+miR-124+miR-183+miR-195+miR-15a+miR-16 expressions in the accepted screening methods would help recognize early-stage BC and contribute to more effective BC management. Since it will require more extensive study in the future, it cannot replace current imaging methods; however, it can improve the detection accuracy of BC.