Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress hp
Sign In
Advertise with Us
LGC Clinical Diagnostics

Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. serves customers who are accelerating life sciences research, solving complex analytica... read more Featured Products: More products

Download Mobile App




MicroRNA-Based Liquid Biopsy Assay for Early Diagnosis of Head and Neck Cancer

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 09 Sep 2020
A microRNA-based liquid biopsy assay has been developed that enables early diagnosis of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, a disease causing hundreds of thousands of fatalities each year.

Oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC), also known as tonsil cancer or head and neck cancer, is a disease in which abnormal cells with the potential to both grow locally and metastasize to other parts of the body are found in the tissue of the part of the throat (oropharynx) that includes the base of the tongue, the tonsils, the soft palate, and the walls of the pharynx. The two types of oropharyngeal cancers are HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer, which is caused by an oral human papillomavirus (HPV) infection; and HPV-negative oropharyngeal cancer, which is linked to use of alcohol, tobacco, or both. OPSCC is frequently diagnosed at an advanced stage, since the disease often causes minimal symptoms other than metastasis to neck lymph nodes.

Tumor cells release microRNA (miRNA)-containing small extracellular vesicles into their extracellular environment and these vesicles are present in circulating blood. Thus, the miRNA content of circulating small extracellular vesicles has the potential to provide a unique molecular signature for multiple possibilities such as diagnosis, prognosis and surveillance of cancers.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), which include exosomes, microvesicles, and apoptotic bodies, are cell-derived lipid-bilayer-enclosed structures, with sizes ranging from 30 to 5,000 nanometers. The vesicles, which contain RNA, proteins, lipids, and metabolites that are reflective of the cell type of origin, are either released from the cell when multivesicular bodies (MVBs) fuse with the plasma membrane, or they are released directly from the plasma membrane.

Previous studies have suggested that MiRNAs are potential biomarkers for early head and neck squamous cell cancer diagnosis, prognosis, recurrence, and presence of metastatic disease. However, there is no widespread agreement on a panel of miRNAs with clinically meaningful utility for head and neck squamous cell cancers. This could be due to variations in the collection, storage, pre-processing, and isolation of RNA, but several reports have indicated that the selection and reproducibility of biomarkers has been widely affected by the methods used for data analysis. The primary analysis issues appear to be model overfitting and the incorrect application of statistical techniques.

Seeking better tools for diagnosis of head and neck cancer, investigators at Flinders University (Adelaide, Australia) developed a robust statistical approach to identify a miRNA signature that can distinguish controls and patients with inflammatory disease from patients with human papilloma virus positive (HPV+) OPSCC.

For this study, the investigators harvested small extracellular vesicles from the serum of 20 control patients, 20 patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GORD), and 40 patients with locally advanced HPV+ OPSCC. MicroRNAs were purified, and expression profiled using ThermoFisher Scientific (Waltham, MA, USA) OpenArray technology. A novel cross validation method, using lasso regression, was developed to stabilize selection of miRNAs for inclusion in a prediction model. The method, named StaVarSel (for Stable Variable Selection), was used to derive a diagnostic biomarker signature.

Results revealed that a standard cross validation approach was unable to produce a biomarker signature with good cross validated predictive capacity. In contrast, StaVarSel produced a regression model containing 11 miRNA ratios with potential clinical utility.

Senior author Dr. Damian Hussey, a researcher in medicine and public health at Flinders University, said, "MicroRNAs are potential biomarkers for early head and neck squamous cell cancer diagnosis, prognosis, recurrence, and presence of metastatic disease. However, there is no widespread agreement on a panel of miRNAs with clinically meaningful utility for head and neck squamous cell cancers."

The liquid biopsy diagnostic assay for head and neck cancer was described in the July 10, 2020, online edition of the Journal of Translational Medicine.

Related Links:
Flinders University
ThermoFisher Scientific



Gold Member
Antipsychotic TDM Assays
Saladax Antipsychotic Assays
Verification Panels for Assay Development & QC
Seroconversion Panels
New
Toxoplasma Gondii Immunoassay
Toxo IgM AccuBind ELISA Kit
New
Silver Member
Total Hemoglobin Monitoring System
GREENCARE Hb
Read the full article by registering today, it's FREE! It's Free!
Register now for FREE to LabMedica.com and get access to news and events that shape the world of Clinical Laboratory Medicine.
  • Free digital version edition of LabMedica International sent by email on regular basis
  • Free print version of LabMedica International magazine (available only outside USA and Canada).
  • Free and unlimited access to back issues of LabMedica International in digital format
  • Free LabMedica International Newsletter sent every week containing the latest news
  • Free breaking news sent via email
  • Free access to Events Calendar
  • Free access to LinkXpress new product services
  • REGISTRATION IS FREE AND EASY!
Click here to Register








Channels

Clinical Chemistry

view channel
Image: The tiny clay-based materials can be customized for a range of medical applications (Photo courtesy of Angira Roy and Sam O’Keefe)

‘Brilliantly Luminous’ Nanoscale Chemical Tool to Improve Disease Detection

Thousands of commercially available glowing molecules known as fluorophores are commonly used in medical imaging, disease detection, biomarker tagging, and chemical analysis. They are also integral in... Read more

Immunology

view channel
Image: The cancer stem cell test can accurately choose more effective treatments (Photo courtesy of University of Cincinnati)

Stem Cell Test Predicts Treatment Outcome for Patients with Platinum-Resistant Ovarian Cancer

Epithelial ovarian cancer frequently responds to chemotherapy initially, but eventually, the tumor develops resistance to the therapy, leading to regrowth. This resistance is partially due to the activation... Read more

Microbiology

view channel
Image: The lab-in-tube assay could improve TB diagnoses in rural or resource-limited areas (Photo courtesy of Kenny Lass/Tulane University)

Handheld Device Delivers Low-Cost TB Results in Less Than One Hour

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the deadliest infectious disease globally, affecting an estimated 10 million people annually. In 2021, about 4.2 million TB cases went undiagnosed or unreported, mainly due to... Read more

Pathology

view channel
Image: The ready-to-use DUB enzyme assay kits accelerate routine DUB activity assays without compromising data quality (Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock)

Sensitive and Specific DUB Enzyme Assay Kits Require Minimal Setup Without Substrate Preparation

Ubiquitination and deubiquitination are two important physiological processes in the ubiquitin-proteasome system, responsible for protein degradation in cells. Deubiquitinating (DUB) enzymes contain around... Read more

Technology

view channel
Image: The HIV-1 self-testing chip will be capable of selectively detecting HIV in whole blood samples (Photo courtesy of Shutterstock)

Disposable Microchip Technology Could Selectively Detect HIV in Whole Blood Samples

As of the end of 2023, approximately 40 million people globally were living with HIV, and around 630,000 individuals died from AIDS-related illnesses that same year. Despite a substantial decline in deaths... Read more

Industry

view channel
Image: The collaboration aims to leverage Oxford Nanopore\'s sequencing platform and Cepheid\'s GeneXpert system to advance the field of sequencing for infectious diseases (Photo courtesy of Cepheid)

Cepheid and Oxford Nanopore Technologies Partner on Advancing Automated Sequencing-Based Solutions

Cepheid (Sunnyvale, CA, USA), a leading molecular diagnostics company, and Oxford Nanopore Technologies (Oxford, UK), the company behind a new generation of sequencing-based molecular analysis technologies,... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2025 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.