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Can circulating microRNAs solve clinical dilemmas in testicular germ cell malignancy?

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Current clinical issues in testicular germ cell tumour management include limited sensitivity and specificity of conventional biomarkers and, therefore, reliance on serial CT imaging in follow-up monitoring, as well as poor ability to risk stratify patients. Circulating microRNAs are likely to help overcome these challenges and, importantly, could offer cost savings to health-care systems.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank St. Baldrick’s Foundation (reference 358099) and the Isaac Newton Trust (reference 15.40f) for grant funding and are grateful for financial support from the Max Williamson Fund and from C. Hodson and A. Hodson, in memory of their daughter Olivia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Matthew J. Murray & Nicholas Coleman

  2. Department of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK

    Matthew J. Murray

  3. Department of Histopathology, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK

    Nicholas Coleman

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  1. Matthew J. Murray
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  2. Nicholas Coleman
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Correspondence to Matthew J. Murray or Nicholas Coleman.

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Competing interests

N.C. declares royalties from patents licensed by Becton Dickinson from Cancer Research Technology (UK) relating to the use of minichromosome maintenance proteins as biomarkers for cancer diagnosis. M.J.M. declares no competing interests.

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Murray, M.J., Coleman, N. Can circulating microRNAs solve clinical dilemmas in testicular germ cell malignancy?. Nat Rev Urol 16, 505–506 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41585-019-0214-2

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