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Review
. 2022 Aug 4:12:940314.
doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.940314. eCollection 2022.

Potential utility of miRNAs for liquid biopsy in breast cancer

Xiangrong Liu  1 , Dimitri Papukashvili  2 , Zhixiang Wang  1 , Yan Liu  1 , Xiaoxia Chen  1 , Jianrong Li  1 , Zhiyuan Li  1 , Linjie Hu  1 , Zheng Li  1 , Nino Rcheulishvili  2 , Xiaoqing Lu  1 , Jinfeng Ma  1
Affiliations
Review

Potential utility of miRNAs for liquid biopsy in breast cancer

Xiangrong Liu et al. Front Oncol. .

Abstract

Breast cancer (BC) remains the most prevalent malignancy due to its incidence rate, recurrence, and metastasis in women. Conventional strategies of cancer detection- mammography and tissue biopsy lack the capacity to detect the complete cancer genomic landscape. Besides, they often give false- positive or negative results. The presence of this and other disadvantages such as invasiveness, high-cost, and side effects necessitates developing new strategies to overcome the BC burden. Liquid biopsy (LB) has been brought to the fore owing to its early detection, screening, prognosis, simplicity of the technique, and efficient monitoring. Remarkably, microRNAs (miRNAs)- gene expression regulators seem to play a major role as biomarkers detected in the samples of LB. Particularly, miR-21 and miR-155 among other possible candidates seem to serve as favorable biomarkers in the diagnosis and prognosis of BC. Hence, this review will assess the potential utility of miRNAs as biomarkers and will highlight certain promising candidates for the LB approach in the diagnosis and management of BC that may optimize the patient outcome.

Keywords: biofluids; biomarker; breast cancer; liquid biopsy; miRNA.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic illustration of body fluids-based miRNA utility as biomarkers in breast cancer diagnosis and prognosis. The body fluids are the source of miRNAs that can be obtained via liquid biopsy. Bold-type indicates the most promising and studied body fluid for detecting miRNAs in breast cancer. Several listed biofluids have not yet been studied for miRNA detection as biomarkers in breast cancer, still, they represent potential liquid biopsy candidates.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Advantages of liquid biopsy utility in breast cancer management via using various samples of body fluids. The biofluids written in bold indicate the most studied samples for miRNA detection in breast cancer. Several listed biofluids have not yet been studied for miRNA detection as biomarkers in breast cancer, still, they represent potential liquid biopsy candidates.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Representative miRNA candidates with the potential of biomarker function in breast cancer diagnosis and prognosis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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