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The translational potential of microRNAs as biofluid markers of urological tumours

Nature Reviews Urology volume 13, pages 734–752 (2016)Cite this article

Subjects

Key Points

  • Several hundred microRNAs (miRNAs) occur in biofluids as free molecules or are secreted in vesicles or bound in a ribonucleoprotein complex

  • The secretion of miRNAs into biofluids is dysregulated in cancer making miRNAs potential noninvasive tumour biomarkers

  • Studies performed on samples from patients with urological carcinomas suggest that miRNAs in whole-blood samples, serum, plasma and urine can be applied as novel diagnostic, prognostic and surveillance biomarkers

  • Inconsistent and contradictory results from studies in bladder, kidney and prostate cancer impede translation of miRNA measurements into routine clinical practice, but a clinically useful signature has been developed for testicular cancer

  • Preanalytical, analytical and postanalytical differences as well as insufficient power and the heterogeneity of studies are the main factors in shortcomings in this research field

  • Prospective, multicentre studies that consider all these deficiencies in their design are necessary to assess the real clinical benefit of miRNA measurements in the biofluids of patients with urological carcinomas

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are secreted by cells in vesicles, bound in a ribonucleoprotein complex or as free molecules. These miRNA secretion pathways are dysregulated in cancer, making miRNAs attractive candidate molecules for liquid biopsies. A number of studies have investigated the regulation of miRNA secretion into blood and urine and suggested that miRNAs are noninvasive diagnostic, prognostic and surveillance markers in urological carcinomas, and research in this area has increased over the past 5 years. However, methodological and analytical pitfalls exist and require addressing to enable future translation of the laboratory findings regarding miRNAs as biomarkers into clinical practice in bladder cancer, kidney cancer, prostate cancer and testicular cancer.

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Figure 1: Total annual microRNA (miRNA) publications indexed in the PubMed database relating to urological tumours.
Figure 2: The origin of circulating microRNAs (miRNAs).

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Foundation of Urologic Research, Berlin, Germany and by a Twinning Research Grant of the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Berlin, Germany.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Signal Transduction, Invasion and Metastasis of Epithelial Cells, Max Delbrück Center of Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association, Robert-Rössle-Strasse 10, 13092, Berlin, Germany

    Annika Fendler

  2. Department of Urology, University Hospital Charité, Schumannstrasse 20/21, 10117, Berlin, Germany

    Annika Fendler, Carsten Stephan & Klaus Jung

  3. Berlin Institute for Urologic Research, University Hospital Charité, Schumannstrasse 20/21, 10117, Berlin, Germany

    Annika Fendler, Carsten Stephan & Klaus Jung

  4. Department of Laboratory Medicine, St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto, 30 Bond Street, M5B 1W8, Toronto, Canada

    George M. Yousef

  5. Institute of Pathology, University Hospital Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Strasse 25, 53127, Bonn, Germany

    Glen Kristiansen

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  1. Annika Fendler
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  2. Carsten Stephan
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  3. George M. Yousef
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  4. Glen Kristiansen
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  5. Klaus Jung
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Contributions

All authors researched data for, contributed to discussion of content, wrote and reviewed and edited the manuscript before submission.

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Correspondence to Klaus Jung.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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AUO No. AH 14/15-MicroRNA

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Fendler, A., Stephan, C., Yousef, G. et al. The translational potential of microRNAs as biofluid markers of urological tumours. Nat Rev Urol 13, 734–752 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrurol.2016.193

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