Profiling of 179 miRNA Expression in Blood Plasma of Lung Cancer Patients and Cancer-Free Individuals

Lung cancer is one of major cancers, and survival of lung cancer patients is dictated by the timely detection and diagnosis. Cell-free circulating miRNAs were proposed as candidate biomarkers for lung cancer. These RNAs are frequently deregulated in lung cancer and can persist in bodily fluids for extended periods of time, shielded from degradation by membrane vesicles and biopolymer complexes. To date, several groups reported the presence of lung tumour-specific subsets of miRNAs in blood. Here we describe the profiling of blood plasma miRNAs in lung cancer patients, healthy individuals and endobronchitis patients using miRCURY LNA miRNA qPCR Serum/Plasma Panel (Exiqon). From 241 ratios differently expressed between cancer patients and healthy individuals 19 miRNAs were selected for verification using the same platform. LASSO-penalized logistic regression model, including 10 miRNA ratios comprised of 14 individual miRNAs discriminated lung cancer patients from both control groups with AUC of 0.979.