Table 3.
Potential free-circulating miRNAs in diagnosing and predicting the prognosis or treatment responses among breast cancer patients. ↑ increase; ↓ reduce.
| miRNAs | miRNAs Source | Diagnostic Significance | Significance in Grading/Classification | Prognostic Significance | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Response to Treatment | Overall Survival | Relapse/Recurrence | |||||
| miR-21 | Serum | ↑ miR-21 in BC | ↑ miR-21 in advanced BC | ↑ miR-21 linked to ↑ radioresistance | ↑ miR-21 in BC ↓ survival | NIA | [36] |
| miR-125b | Serum | NIA | ↑ miR-125b linked to ↑ disease staging | ↑ miR-125b linked to ↑ chemoresistance | NIA | NIA | [61] |
| miR-140-5p | Plasma | ↓ miR-140-5p in BC as compared to CT | ↓ miR-140-5p linked to worst disease prognosis | ↓ miR-140-5p linked to ↑ chemoresistance | ↓ miR-140-5p linked to ↓ EFS | ↓ miR-140-5p linked to ↑ relapse/recurrence | [39] |
| miR-335 | Serum | ↓ miR-335 in BC as compared to CT | ↓ miR-335 in TNBC | NIA | ↓ miR-335 linked to ↓ OS | ↓ miR-335 linked to ↑ relapse/recurrence | [54] |
| miR-34a/b/c | Plasma | ↓ In the 3 miRNAs levels in BC as compared to CT | ↓ miR-34a levels linked to advanced clinical staging & histopathological grading | NIA | ↓ miR-34a levels linked to ↓ survival | NIA | [37] |
| miR-21, miR-23b, miR-200c, miR-190 |
Plasma | ↑ miR-21, miR-23b & miR-200c levels & ↓ miR-190 in BC |
The 4 miRNAs distinguished relapsed & non-relapsed BC cases | NIA | ↑ miR-21 & miR-200c linked to short DFS | ↑ miR-21, miR-23b & miR-200c & ↓ miR-190 in relapsed as compared to non-relapsed case | [42] |
| miR-16-5p, miR-17-3p, miR-451a, miR-940 | Serum | No significant difference in the 4 miRNAs levels between BC & CT cases | The 4 miRNAs distinguished metastatic & non-metastatic BC cases | ↓ In the 4 miRNAs in trastuzumab-resistant BC | ↑ In the 4 miRNAs in improved BC survival | ↑ In the 4 miRNAs in reduced incidence of relapse/recurrence | [50] |
| miR-18b, miR-103, miR-107, miR-652 | Serum | ↑ In the 4 miRNAs levels in TNBC | ↑ In the 4 miRNAs levels linked to advanced clinical staging & histopathological grading | NIA | ↑ In the 4 miRNAs ↓ RFS & OS | ↑ In the 4 miRNAs in relapse group | [66] |
| Let-7a, miR-10b, miR-21, miR-145, miR-181a | Plasma | ↑ miR-10b, miR-21 & miR-181a & ↓ let-7a & miR-145 in BC | ↑ miR-10b, miR-21 & miR-181a & ↓ let-7a & miR-145 in locally advanced BC | NIA | ↑ miR-10b & ↓ miR-21 linked to survival | ↑ miR-10b & miR-21 linked to ↑ relapse | [57] |
| miR-26b-5p, miR-106b-5p, miR-142-3p, miR-142-5p, miR-185-5p, miR-362-5p | Whole blood | ↑ In the 6 miRNAs levels in BC | ↑ In the 6 miRNAs levels in early BC | NIA | ↑ In the 6 miRNAs levels linked to ↓ OS/DFS | NIA | [45] |
| miR-19a, miR-19b-3p, miR-22-3p, miR-25-3p, miR-93-5p, miR-199a-3p, miR-210-3p | Plasma | ↑ In the 7 miRNAs levels in BC | These miRNAs predicted BC patient survival & relapse | The 7 miRNAs regulate chemotherapy & targeted therapy resistance | ↑ miR-19a, miR-19b, miR-93 & miR-201 linked to poor OS in TNBC patients | NIA | [30] |
| miR-296-3p, miR-575, miR-3610-5p, miR-4483, miR-4710, miR-4755-3p, miR-5698, miR-8089 | Serum | ↑ In the 8 miRNAs levels in BC | The 8 miRNAs distinguished metastatic & non-metastatic BC cases | NIA | ↓ miR-5698 & miR-8089 linked to ↑ improved survival | The 8 miRNAs predicted distant metastases | [31] |
BC: breast cancer; DCIS: ductal carcinoma in situ; DFS: disease-free survival; EFS: event-free survival; ER: estrogen receptor; LN: lymph node; OS: overall survival; NACT: neoadjuvant chemotherapy; TNBC: triple-negative breast cancer; PFS: progression-free survival; PR: progesterone receptor; NIA: no information available. The complete list of miRNA studies surveyed in this review is provided as Supplementary Tables S1 and S2.