Testing the accuracy of a three-miRNA panel for the detection of primary prostate cancer: a discovery and validation study.

BACKGROUND

The harm that prostate cancer inflicts on humans is becoming increasingly grave, imposing a tremendous burden and impact on patients and society. While PSA(Prostate-specific antigen) is commonly used for prostate cancer screening, its high rates of false positives and false negatives can lead to misdiagnosis (unnecessary prostate biopsies) or missed diagnoses (delayed treatment), with potentially serious consequences. Thus, there is a critical need for alternative diagnostic methods to overcome the limitations of PSA. This study aims to identify a novel panel of miRNAs as biomarkers for the diagnosis of prostate cancer.

MATERIALS AND METHOD: This study was carried out in three phases. The diagnostic potential of serum miRNA was assessed by analyzing the area under the ROC curve (AUC).

RESULT: We developed three miRNA panels (miR-200c-3p, miR-221-3p, and miR-20a-5p), which significantly improved the diagnostic accuracy.

CONCLUSION

The three miRNA panels demonstrate substantial diagnostic potential for prostate cancer and are anticipated to help reduce the high false positive and false negative rates commonly seen with PSA testing.