A microRNA panel compared to environmental and polygenic scores for colorectal cancer risk prediction

Appropriate risk models could facilitate risk stratification for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. Here, the authors propose a blood-based microRNA signature observed to have altered expression in pre-diagnostic samples, which might be useful to identify high-risk populations for colorectal cancer screening. Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) could improve colorectal cancer (CRC) risk prediction. Here, we derive a blood-based miRNA panel and evaluate its ability to predict CRC occurrence in a population-based cohort of adults aged 50-75 years. Forty-one miRNAs are preselected from independent studies and measured by quantitative-real-time-polymerase-chain-reaction in serum collected at baseline of 198 participants who develop CRC during 14 years of follow-up and 178 randomly selected controls. A 7-miRNA score is derived by logistic regression. Its predictive ability, quantified by the optimism-corrected area-under-the-receiver-operating-characteristic-curve (AUC) using .632+ bootstrap is 0.794. Predictive ability is compared to that of an environmental risk score (ERS) based on known risk factors and a polygenic risk score (PRS) based on 140 previously identified single-nucleotide-polymorphisms. In participants with all scores available, optimism-corrected-AUC is 0.802 for the 7-miRNA score, while AUC (95% CI) is 0.557 (0.498-0.616) for the ERS and 0.622 (0.564-0.681) for the PRS.

Automated summary

This study proposes a blood-based microRNA signature for identifying high-risk populations for colorectal cancer screening. Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) are found to improve colorectal cancer risk prediction, with a 7-miRNA score showing higher predictive ability compared to environmental and polygenic risk scores.