Plasma concentration of piRNAs in breast cancer and its association with metastasis

⁴ Key Laboratory for Reproductive Medicine of Guangdong; Key Laboratory of Reproduction and Genetics of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes; Key Laboratory for Major Obstetric Diseases of Guangdong Province, 510150 Guangzhou, China

^† These authors contributed equally.

Eur. J. Gynaecol. Oncol. 2021, 42(2), 307–310; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.ejgo.2021.02.2179

Submitted: 27 June 2020 | Revised: 18 November 2020 | Accepted: 23 November 2020 | Published: 15 April 2021

Abstract

Objectives: Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), are a family of small, non-coding RNA transcipts, previously thought to silence gene expression in germ cells through the piRNA-PIWI complex. In recent studies, piRNAs were found to be prominently involved in the development and prognosis of malignant tumors. The study aims to identify differentially expressed circulating piRNAs in breast cancer patients. Methods: 8 piRNAs were tested using Real-time PCR assay in the plasma samples of 33 healthy subjects and 37 breast cancer patients. Results: In this study, we found that piR-651, piR-17458, and piR-20485 were significantly down-regulated in breast cancer patients when compared with healthy controls. Further, piR-20485 was found to be decreased in patients with metastatic disease relative to those with carcinoma in situ. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that piRNAs are potential biomarkers in peripheral blood for breast cancer diagnosis.

Keywords

piRNA

Breast cancer

Plasma

Metastasis

Quick detection

Figures

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Fig. 1.

The relative expression of piRNAs in Controls and Breast Cancer patients. (A-H) The relative expression of piRNA-651, 823, 4987, 17458, 19825, 20365, 20485, 20582, small RNA U6 was used as reference. **, P $<$ 0.01, ***, P $<$ 0.001.

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Eur. J. Gynaecol. Oncol. Print ISSN 0392-2936 Electronic ISSN 2709-0086