Aim: Breast cancer, especially invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), is the cause of a great clinical burden. miRNA could be considered as a noninvasive biomarkers for IDC diagnosis. Materials & methods: Two hundred and sixty participants (135 IDC patients and 125 healthy controls) were enrolled in a three-cohort study. The expression of 28 miRNAs in serum were detected with quantitative reverse transcription-PCR. Bioinformatic analysis was used for predicting the target genes of three selected miRNAs. Results: The expression level of seven miRNAs (miR-9-5p, miR-34b-3p, miR-1-3p, miR-146a-5p, miR-20a-5p, miR-34a-5p, miR-125b-5p) was discrepant at the validation cohort. Through statistical test, a three-miRNA panel (miR-9-5p, miR-34b-3p, miR-146a-5p) was significant for IDC diagnosis (AUC = 0.880, sensitivity = 86.25%, specificity = 81.25%). Conclusion: The three-miRNA panel in serum could be used as a noninvasive biomarker in the diagnosis of IDC.
Keywords: biomarker; breast invasive ductal carcinoma; diagnosis; miRNA; serum.