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. 2021 Apr 30;11(5):820.
doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11050820.

A Physically Active Status Affects the Circulating Profile of Cancer-Associated miRNAs

Martina Faraldi  1 , Laura Gerosa  2 , Marta Gomarasca  1 , Veronica Sansoni  1 , Silvia Perego  1 , Ewa Ziemann  3 , Giuseppe Banfi  1   4 , Giovanni Lombardi  1   3
Affiliations

A Physically Active Status Affects the Circulating Profile of Cancer-Associated miRNAs

Martina Faraldi et al. Diagnostics (Basel). .

Abstract

Circulating miRNAs are ideal diagnostics and prognostics biomarkers in cancer since altered levels of specific miRNAs have been associated to development/progression of several cancers. Physical activity is a recognized preventive strategy against several cancers, but it may also modify the baseline levels of cancer-associated miRNAs and, hence, may act as a confounding pre-analytical variable. This study aimed at understanding whether physical activity-dependent changes in cancer-associated circulating miRNAs profile could act as a confounding variable. A panel comprising 179 miRNAs was assayed in plasma from 20 highly trained and 10 sedentary men. RT-qPCR data were analyzed with the 2-2ΔΔCT methods and normalized on hsa-miR-320d, as determined by bioinformatics analysis. miRNAs associated with the diagnosis of the most prevalent cancers were considered. Only those miRNAs, relevantly associated with cancers, found ≥2-fold up- or downregulated in highly trained subjects compared to sedentary were disclosed. The results reveal that chronic physical activity determined modifications altering the baseline level of several cancer-associated miRNAs and, hence, their diagnostic and prognostic potential. In conclusion, based on our results, a physically active status emerges as an important pre-analytical variable able to alter the basal level of circulating miRNAs, and these alterations might be considered as potentially misleading the analytical output.

Keywords: cancer biomarkers; circulating miRNAs; physical activity; pre-analytical variables.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Description of selection strategy of cancer associated miRNAs and signatures.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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