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World J Clin Oncol. Oct 10, 2014; 5(4): 604-620
Published online Oct 10, 2014. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v5.i4.604
MicroRNAs as lung cancer biomarkers
Valerio Del Vescovo, Margherita Grasso, Mattia Barbareschi, Michela A Denti
Valerio Del Vescovo, Margherita Grasso, Michela A Denti, Laboratory of RNA Biology and Biotechnology, Centre for Integrative Biology, University of Trento, 38123 Trento, Italy
Mattia Barbareschi, Unit of Surgical Pathology, Laboratory of Molecular Pathology, Trentino Biobank, S.Chiara Hospital, 38100 Trento, Italy
Author contributions: Del Vescovo V and Grasso M contributed equally to this work, searched the literature material and designed the research; Del Vescovo V, Grasso M and Denti MA wrote the paper; Barbareschi M and Denti MA revised the paper.
Correspondence to: Dr. Michela A Denti, Laboratory of RNA Biology and Biotechnology, Centre for Integrative Biology, University of Trento, via Sommarive 5, 38123 Trento, Italy. denti@science.unitn.it
Telephone: +39-0461-283820 Fax: +39-0461-283937
Received: January 16, 2014
Revised: February 28, 2014
Accepted: May 8, 2014
Published online: October 10, 2014
Processing time: 197 Days and 3.1 Hours
Abstract

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Its high mortality is due to the poor prognosis of the disease caused by a late disease presentation, tumor heterogeneities within histological subtypes, and the relatively limited understanding of tumor biology. Importantly, lung cancer histological subgroups respond differently to some chemotherapeutic substances and side effects of some therapies appear to vary between subgroups. Biomarkers able to stratify for the subtype of lung cancer, prognosticate the course of disease, or predict the response to treatment are in high demand. In the last decade, microRNAs (miRNAs), measured in resected tumor samples or in fine needle aspirate samples have emerged as biomarkers for tumor diagnosis, prognosis and prediction of response to treatment, due to the ease of their detection and in their extreme specificity. Moreover, miRNAs present in sputum, in plasma, in serum or in whole blood have increasingly been explored in the last five years as less invasive biomarkers for the early detection of cancers. In this review we cover the increasing amounts of data that have accumulated in the last ten years on the use of miRNAs as lung cancer biomarkers.

Keywords: Lung cancer; Non-small cell lung carcinomas; MicroRNAs; Biomarkers

Core tip: Biomarkers able to stratify for the subtype of lung cancer, prognosticate the course of disease, or predict the response to treatment are in high demand. In the last decade, microRNAs (miRNAs), measured in resected tumor samples have emerged as biomarkers, due to the ease of their detection and in their extreme specificity. Moreover, miRNAs present in sputum, in plasma, in serum or in whole blood have increasingly been explored in the last five years as less invasive biomarkers for the early detection of cancers.