Application of serum miRNA panel in bladder cancer detection

Bladder cancer (BC) screening contributes to better patient outcomes. However, existing diagnostic methods for BC are not suitable for large-scale screening. Serum microRNAs (miRNAs) are expected to be simple, cost-effective, and non-invasive screening tools for BC. This study aims to identify whether relevant serum miRNAs as diagnostic markers for BC.

This research covered 112 BCs and 112 healthy controls (HCs), utilizing quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) to pinpoint miRNAs viable for diagnosing BC in serum across three phases. In addition, bioinformatics analyses were conducted to predict target genes and provide functional annotations.

Six serum miRNAs showed significantly abnormal expression levels compared with the HC group. A highly efficient screening model, comprising four serum miRNAs (hsa-miR-107, hsa-miR-146a-5p, hsa-miR-15b-5p, and hsa-miR-218-5p) was developed, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) value of 0.924, 95.24% sensitivity, and 78.57% specificity. The predicted target genes of these serum miRNAs, including ADAMTSL3, CACNB2, FOXP2 and GAS7, may play a role in the initiation and progression of BC.

A panel of four serum miRNAs (hsa-miR-107, hsa-miR-146a-5p, hsa-miR-15b-5p, and hsa-miR-218-5p) exhibits high specificity and sensitivity. It shows potential as an efficient, non-invasive, and cost-effective biomarker for BC screening.