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Updated: Jul 2, 2026
Exosomal miRNA Analysis in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer NSCLC Patients' Plasma Through qPCR: A Feasible Liquid Biopsy Tool
Published on: May 27, 2016
Comprehensive circRNA profiling of platelets and exosomes identifies hsa_circ_0061274 as a novel biomarker for lung
Peiyin Zhang1,2, Shan Liu3, Bin Hu4
1Department of Clinical Laboratory, Sichuan Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Sichuan Cancer Hospital & Institute, Sichuan Cancer Center, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
Background:
Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is usually detected late; sensitive, minimally invasive early-detection tools are urgently needed. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) in liquid biopsies are promising cancer biomarkers, yet it remains unclear which blood component-platelets or plasma exosomes-offers the richest and most informative circRNA source.
Materials And Methods:
High-throughput RNA sequencing was performed on platelets and plasma exosomes collected from LUAD patients and age-matched healthy donors. Differential circRNAs expression was analyzed after stringent quality filtering and normalization. A candidate reference gene was selected by stability testing (geNorm, NormFinder); diagnostic performance of the top LUAD-associated circRNA was validated in independent cohorts encompassing healthy controls and patients with benign pulmonary nodules; ROC curves were generated and AUCs calculated.
Results:
Platelets contained 15-20-fold more distinct circRNAs than plasma exosomes. hsa_circ_0001380 was identified as a stably expressed reference suitable for platelet circRNA quantification. hsa_circ_0061274 was significantly down-regulated in LUAD platelets (log2FC ≈ -1.8, FDR < 0.01). In validation cohorts, hsa_circ_0061274 discriminated LUAD from healthy controls with an AUC of 0.85 (95% CI 0.79-0.91), from benign pulmonary nodules with an AUC of 0.75 (95% CI 0.68-0.82), and stage I LUAD with an Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.68 (95% CI 0.60-0.76). Platelet-derived circRNAs thus provide robust, minimally invasive biomarkers for early LUAD detection and pulmonary nodule characterization.
