Quantitative Investigation of MicroRNA-32 in the Urine of Prostate Cancer Patients and Its Relationship With Clinicopathological Characteristics

Clin Genitourin Cancer. 2024 Dec;22(6):102195. doi: 10.1016/j.clgc.2024.102195. Epub 2024 Aug 13.

Abstract

Introduction: Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. PCa diagnosis is mostly based on solid biopsy and prostate-specific antigen (PSA), which have the disadvantages of being invasive and insensitive, respectively. Recently, the detection of microRNAs (miRNAs) in expressed prostatic secretions (EPS) has been a promising approach for PCa diagnosis. The aim of this study is to quantify transcriptional levels of miRNA-32 in the urine of prostate cancer patients.

Materials and methods: In this study, we evaluated the expression of miRNA-32 in the urine of 27 PCa patients, 48 benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and 20 healthy controls, using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). The expression levels were then compared with the clinicopathological characteristics of patients.

Results: The expression level of miRNA-32 in PCa patients was significantly higher than the control group (P < .01) and BPH cases (P < .01), and was associated with advanced tumor stage (P < .05). In addition, the expression of miRNA-32 had significant correlation with patients' age (r = 0.39, P = .043). Area under ROC curve (AUC) for the discrimination of PCa samples from control and BPH samples were 0.93 (P < .0001) and 0.78 (P < .0001), respectively. We also used logistic regression analysis to integrate the results of PSA, prostate volume and miRNA-32, and presented a predictive model for distinguishing PCa from BPH, highlighting the clinical utility of miRNA-32 in cancer diagnosis and risk assessment.

Conclusions: Measurement of miRNA-32 expression in urine may have significance for the detection of PCa. Inclusion of miRNA-32 in logistic regression along with PSA and prostate volume increases the accuracy of cancer diagnosis.

Keywords: Benign prostatic hyperplasia; Prostate volume; Prostate-specific antigen; miRNA-32.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Biomarkers, Tumor* / genetics
  • Biomarkers, Tumor* / urine
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Humans
  • Male
  • MicroRNAs* / genetics
  • MicroRNAs* / urine
  • Middle Aged
  • Prostate / pathology
  • Prostate-Specific Antigen / blood
  • Prostate-Specific Antigen / urine
  • Prostatic Hyperplasia* / genetics
  • Prostatic Hyperplasia* / pathology
  • Prostatic Hyperplasia* / urine
  • Prostatic Neoplasms* / genetics
  • Prostatic Neoplasms* / pathology
  • Prostatic Neoplasms* / urine
  • ROC Curve
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction

Substances

  • MicroRNAs
  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • MIRN32 microRNA, human
  • Prostate-Specific Antigen