Malignant potential in pancreatic neoplasm; new insights provided by circulating miR-223 in plasma

Abstract

Background: Recent studies have identified that microRNAs are stably detectable in plasma/serum because of their binding to specific proteins or being packaged in secretory vesicles.

Methods: We tested miR-223 as a candidate of novel plasma biomarker in pancreatic cancer (PCa) and intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN).

Results: i) miR-223 expression was significantly higher in PCa tissues (p = 0.0069) than in normal tissues. ii) Plasma miR-223 levels were significantly higher in 71 PCa patients than 67 healthy volunteers (p < 0.0001). iii) Plasma miR-223 levels were significantly reduced in postoperative samples (p = 0.0297). iv) Plasma miR-223 levels tended to discriminate the malignant potential between benign IPMN and malignant IPMN (p = 0.0963), and the progressive extent of invasiveness between malignant IPMN and pancreatic invasive ductal carcinoma (PIDC) (p = 0.0004). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that a low level of plasma miR-223 was an independent risk factor for PIDC (p = 0.0012, odds ratio 7.90 [95% CI: 2.06 – 41.2]). v) There was no significant correlation between plasma miR-223 levels and the number of any blood cell types in the peripheral blood.

Conclusion: Plasma miR-223 might be a clinically useful biomarker for screening PCa, and predicting malignant potential of IPMN and the invasiveness of PCa.

Keywords:

• biomarker
• intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm
• liquid biopsy
• microRNA
• pancreatic cancer
• pancreatic invasive ductal carcinoma
• plasma
• prognosis

Acknowledgment

S Komatsu and M Miyamae contributed equally to this work.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending or royalties.

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