AUTHOR=De Martino Eleonora , Gandin Ilaria , Azzalini Eros , Massone Cesare , Pizzichetta Maria Antonietta , Giulioni Erika , Javor Sanja , Pinzani Caterina , Conforti Claudio , Zalaudek Iris , Bonin Serena TITLE=A group of three miRNAs can act as candidate circulating biomarkers in liquid biopsies from melanoma patients JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine VOLUME=10 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2023.1180799 DOI=10.3389/fmed.2023.1180799 ISSN=2296-858X ABSTRACT=Background

Staging of melanoma and follow up after melanoma diagnosis aims at predicting risk and detecting progression or recurrence at early stage, respectively in order to timely start and/or change treatment. Tumor thickness according to Breslow, status of the sentinel node and value of the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) are well-established prognostic markers for metastatic risk, but reliable biomarkers identifying early recurrence or candidates who may benefit best from medical treatment are still warranted. Liquid biopsy has emerged to be a suitable method for identifying biomarkers for early cancer diagnosis, prognosis, therapeutic response prediction, and patient follow-up. Liquid biopsy is a blood-based non-invasive procedure that allows analyzing circulating analytes, including extracellular vesicles.

Methods

In this study we have explored the use of 7 miRNAs, namely hsa-miR-149-3p, hsa-miR-150-5p, hsa-miR-21-5p, hsa-miR-200c-3p, hsa-miR-134-5p, hsa-miR-144-3p and hsa-miR-221-3p in plasma exosomes to discriminate melanoma patients from controls without melanoma in a cohort of 92 individuals.

Results and discussion

Our results showed that three out seven miRNAs, namely hsa-miR-200c-3p, hsa-miR-144-3p and hsa-miR-221-3p were differentially expressed in plasma-derived exosomes from melanoma patients and controls. Furthermore, the expression of the three miRNAs may be a promising ancillary tool as a melanoma biomarker, even for discriminating between nevi and melanoma.