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.
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.
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.
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.
Andrology. 2022 Aug 05 [Epub ahead of print]
Vera Constâncio, Nuno Tiago Tavares, Rui Henrique, Carmen Jerónimo, João Lobo
Cancer Biology and Epigenetics Group, Research Center of IPO Porto (CI-IPOP)/RISE@CI-IPOP (Health Research Network), Portuguese Oncology Institute of Porto (IPO Porto)/Porto Comprehensive Cancer Centre (Porto.CCC), Rua Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida, Porto, Portugal.