Exosomal miR-1290 and miR-375 as prognostic markers in castration-resistant prostate cancer

Abstract

Background: Extracellular microRNAs (miRNAs) embedded in circulating exosomes may serves as prognostic biomarkers in cancer.

Objective: To identify and evaluate plasma exosomal miRNAs for prognosis in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

Design, setting, and participants: RNA sequencing was performed to identify candidate exosomal miRNAs associated with overall survival in a screening cohort of 23 CRPC patients. Candidate miRNAs were further evaluated for prognosis using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in a follow-up cohort of 100 CRPC patients.

Outcome measurements and statistical analysis: Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier survival analyses were used to evaluate survival association using candidate miRNAs along with clinical prognostic factors.

Results and limitations: RNA sequencing in screening cohort generated approximately 6.80 million mappable reads per patient. Of those with normalized read counts ≥ 5, 43% were mapped to miRNAs for a total of 375 known and 57 novel miRNAs. Cox regression analysis identified an association of miR-1290, -1246, and -375 with overall survival (false discover rate < 0.05). Of those, higher levels of miR-1290 and -375 were significantly associated with poor overall survival (p < 0.004) in the follow-up cohort. Incorporation of miR-1290/-375 into putative clinical prognostic factors-based models in CRPC stage significantly improved predictive performance with a time-dependent area under the curve increase from 0.66 to 0.73 (p = 6.57 × 10(-6)).

Conclusions: Plasma exosomal miR-1290 and miR-375 are promising prognostic biomarkers for CRPC patients. Prospective validation is needed for further evaluation of these candidate miRNAs.

Patient summary: In this study, we evaluated whether small RNAs circulating in blood could be used to predict clinical outcomes in late-stage prostate cancer patients. We identified two blood-based small RNAs whose levels showed significant association with survival. Our results warrant further investigation because the noninvasive blood-based test has great potential in the management of late-stage prostate cancer.

Keywords: Biomarker; Exosome; Extracellular RNA; Prognosis; Prostate cancer; RNA sequencing; Survival; microRNA.