MicroRNA array analysis finds elevated serum miR-1290 accurately distinguishes patients with low-stage pancreatic cancer from healthy and disease controls.

PURPOSE: Our goal was to identify circulating micro RNA (miRNA) levels that could distinguish patients with low-stage pancreatic cancer from healthy and disease controls. EXPERIMENTAL
DESIGN: We measured 735 miRNAs in pancreatic cancer case and control sera by QRTPCR using TaqMan MicroRNA Arrays. After array analysis, we selected 18 miRNA candidates for validation in an independent set of cases and control samples.
RESULTS: Of the significantly elevated circulating miRNAs in patients with pancreatic cancer compared with controls, miR-1290 had the best diagnostic performance: receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis on miR-1290 serum level yielded curve areas (AUC) of 0.96 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.91-1.00], 0.81 (0.71-0.91), and 0.80 (0.67-0.93), for subjects with pancreatic cancer (n = 41) relative to healthy controls (n = 19), subjects with chronic pancreatitis (n = 35), and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (n = 18), respectively. Serum miR-1290 levels were also significantly higher than healthy controls among patients with intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN; n = 20; AUC = 0.76, 0.61-0.91). Serum miR-1290 levels distinguished patients with low-stage pancreatic cancer from controls better than CA19-9 levels, and like CA19-9, higher miR-1290 levels predicted poorer outcome among patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy. Greater numbers of miR-1290 transcripts were detected by FISH in primary pancreatic cancer and IPMN than normal pancreatic duct cells. miR-1290 influenced in vitro pancreatic cancer cell proliferation and invasive ability. Several other circulating miRNAs distinguished sera of patients with pancreatic cancer from those of healthy controls with AUCs >0.7, including miR-24, miR-134, miR-146a, miR-378, miR-484, miR-628-3p, and miR-1825.
CONCLUSIONS: The detection of elevated circulating miR-1290 has the potential to improve the early detection of pancreatic cancer. ©2013 AACR.