Abstract
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the world. Brain metastasis (BM) can affect about 25% of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients during their lifetime. Efforts to characterize patients that will develop BM have been disappointing. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a role in regulating a variety of targets and, consequently, multiple pathways, which make them a powerful tool for early detection of disease, risk assessment and prognosis. In this study, using RT-PCR and further northern blot validation, we confirmed that miR-378 was significantly differentially expressed in the matched NSCLC from 8 patients with BM and 21 without BM. Our study showed evidences that miR-378 is associated with non-small cell lung cancer brain metastasis by promoting cell migration, invasion and tumor angiogenesis. MiR-378 may be a potential biomarker for characterizing non-small cell lung cancer brain metastasis and assisting clinicians in stratifying the high-risk patients on a clinical trial for either prophylactic cranial irradiation or a new intervention that may mitigate BM development, ultimately leading to a new standard of care for NSCLC patients.
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The authors report no conflict of interest concerning the materials or methods used in this study or the findings specified in this paper.
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Chen, Lt., Xu, Sd., Xu, H. et al. MicroRNA-378 is associated with non-small cell lung cancer brain metastasis by promoting cell migration, invasion and tumor angiogenesis. Med Oncol 29, 1673–1680 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-011-0083-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-011-0083-x