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Review
. 2023 May;11(4):651-667.
doi: 10.1111/andr.13258. Epub 2022 Aug 21.

MiRNA biomarkers in cancers of the male reproductive system: Are we approaching clinical application?

Vera Constâncio  1   2 , Nuno Tiago Tavares  1 , Rui Henrique  1   3   4 , Carmen Jerónimo  1   4 , João Lobo  1   3   4
Affiliations
Free article
Review

MiRNA biomarkers in cancers of the male reproductive system: Are we approaching clinical application?

Vera Constâncio et al. Andrology. 2023 May.
Free article

Abstract

Background: Specific cancer types face specific clinical management challenges. Owing to their stability, robustness and fast, easy and cost-effective detection, microRNAs (miRNAs) are attractive candidate biomarkers to the clinic.

Objectives: Based on a comprehensive review of the relevant literature in the field, we explore the potential of miRNAs as biomarkers to answer relevant clinical dilemmas inherent to cancers of the male reproductive tract (prostate [PCa], testis [TGCTs] and penis [PeCa]) and identify some of the challenges/limitations hampering their widely application.

Results and discussion: We conclude that the use of miRNAs as biomarkers is at different stages for these distinct cancer types. While for TGCTs, miRNA-371a-3p is universally accepted to fill in important clinicals gaps and is moving fast towards clinical implementation, for PCa almost no overlap of miRNAs exists between studies, denoting the absence of a consistent miRNA biomarker, and for PeCa the field of miRNAs has just recently started, with only a few studies attempting to explore their clinical usefulness.

Conclusion: Technological advances influencing miRNA detection and quantification will be instrumental to continue to move forward with implementation of miRNAs in the clinic as biomarkers for non-invasive diagnosis, risk stratification, treatment monitoring and follow-up.

Keywords: biomarkers; diagnosis; follow-up; liquid biopsies; miR-371a-3p; microRNA; penile cancer; prostate cancer; testicular germ cell tumours.

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References

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