Circulating muscle-specific microRNA, miR-206, as a potential diagnostic marker for rhabdomyosarcoma.

Presently there is no serum biomarker of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS). Several studies have shown that profiles of microRNA (miRNA) expression differ among tumor types. Here we evaluated the feasibility of using muscle-specific miRNAs (miR-1, -133a, -133b and -206) as biomarkers of RMS. Expression of muscle-specific miRNAs, especially miR-206, was significantly higher in RMS cell lines than in other tumor cell lines, as well as in RMS tumor specimens. Further, serum levels of muscle-specific miRNAs were significantly higher in patients with RMS tumors than in patients with non-RMS tumors. Normalized serum miR-206 expression level could be used to differentiate between RMS and non-RMS tumors, with sensitivity of 1.0 and specificity of 0.913. These results raise the possibility of using circulating muscle-specific miRNAs, especially miR-206, as landmark biomarkers for RMS.