A novel urinary microRNA biomarker panel for detecting gastric cancer

概要

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common causes of cancer deaths worldwide; however, reliable and non-invasive screening methods for GC are not established. Therefore, we conducted this study to develop a biomarker for GC detection, consisting of urinary microRNAs (miRNAs).

Methods: After matching 306 participants by age and sex using propensity score (153 pairs consisting of patients with GC and healthy controls [HCs]), we randomly divided them into three groups: (1) the discovery cohort (4 pairs); (2) the training cohort (95 pairs); (3) the validation cohort (54 pairs).

Results: There were 22 urinary miRNAs with significantly aberrant expressions between the two groups in the discovery cohort. Upon multivariate analysis of the training cohort, urinary expression levels of miR-6807-5p and miR-6856-5p were significantly independent predictors for diagnosis of GC, in addition to Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) status. A diagnostic biomarker panel that combined the aberrant miRNAs and H. pylori status distinguished between HC and GC samples with an area under the curve (AUC) = 0.736. In the validation cohort, the expression levels of urinary miR-6807-5p and miR-6856-5p were significantly higher in the GC group, and the combination biomarker panel of miR-6807-5p, miR-6856-5p, and H. pylori status also showed excellent performance (AUC = 0.885). In addition, this panel could distinguish between HC and stage I GC patients with an AUC = 0.748. Notably, urinary expression levels of miR-6807-5p and miR-6856-5p significantly decreased to undetectable level after curative resection of GC.

Conclusions: This novel biomarker panel enables early and non-invasive detection of GC.