Table 3.
miRNA signatures for prognosis and treatment response in ER+ breast cancer subtypes
| miRNA(s) | Patient cohort | Sample | Methodology | Clinical observation(s) | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| let-7b | 2,033 cases (ER+ [84%] vs ER− [16%]) | FFPE tissue cores | In situ hybridization | Higher levels of let-7b correlate with better outcome in ER+ cases. | 163 |
| miR-7, miR-128a, miR-210, miR-516-3p | 147 early-stage ER+ cases with LN- | FFPE tissue | TaqMan qRT-PCR (Thermo Fisher Scientific) | Correlates with shorter time to distant metastasis. | 65 |
| miR-10a, miR-126 | Training set: 12 early-stage ER+ cases (LN− [83.3%] vs LN+ [16.7]) Validation set: 81 ER+ cases (Stage I–II [77.5%] vs Stage III [23.5%], LN− [46.9%] vs LN+ [51.8%]) treated with tamoxifen monotherapy | FFPE tissue | TaqMan qRT-PCR (Thermo Fisher Scientific) | Predicts response to tamoxifen and correlates with longer recurrence-free survival. | 60 |
| miR-19a, miR-205 | 68 luminal Aa cases (Stage II [16.2%] vs Stage III [83.8%]) treated with neoadjuvant epirubicin + paclitaxel | Serum | SYBR-based qRT-PCR (Quantobio Technology) | Predicts response to epirubicin + paclitaxel. | 118 |
| miR-30c | 246 advanced-stage ER+ cases (local recurrence [13%] vs distant recurrence [87%]) treated with tamoxifen | FFPE tissue | TaqMan qRT-PCR (Thermo Fisher Scientific) | Predicts response to tamoxifen and correlates with longer progression-free survival. | 61 |
| miR-210 | 89 early-stage ER+ cases (LN− [56%] vs LN+ [38%]) treated with adjuvant tamoxifen monotherapy | FFPE tissue | TaqMan qRT-PCR (Thermo Fisher Scientific) | Correlates with shorter recurrence-free survival. | 62 |
| miR-519a | 50 ER+ cases | FFPE tissue | TaqMan qRT-PCR (Thermo Fisher Scientific) | Correlates with shorter recurrence-free survival. | 63 |
Notes:
a
Luminal A subtype was defined by expression of ER and/or PR, absence of HER2 expression, and less than 14% of cells positive for Ki-67.
Abbreviations: ER, estrogen receptor; FFPE, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded; LN, lymph node status; miRNA, microRNA; PR, progesterone receptor; HER2, human EGF-like receptor 2; qRT-PCR, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction.