m6A target microRNAs in serum for cancer detection

Recent studies have revealed the significant dysregulation of m(6)A level in peripheral blood in several cancer types and its value in diagnosis. Nonetheless, a biomarker for accurate screening of multiple cancer types has not been established based on the perspective of m(6)A modification. In this study, we aimed to develop a serum diagnostic signature based on the m(6)A target miRNAs for the mass detection of cancer. A total of 14965 serum samples with 12 cancer types were included. Based on training cohort (n=7299), we developed the m6A-miRNAs signature using a support vector machine algorithm for cancer detection. The m6A-miRNAs signature showed high accuracy, and its area under the curve (AUC) in the training, internal validation and external validation cohort reached 0.979 (95%CI 0.976 - 0.982), 0.976 (95%CI 0.973 - 0.979) and 0.936 (95%CI 0.922 - 0.951), respectively. In the performance of distinguishing cancer types, the m6A-miRNAs signature showed superior sensitivity in each cancer type and presented a satisfactory AUC in identifying lung cancer, gastric cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma. Additionally, the diagnostic performance of m6A-miRNAs was not interfered by the gender, age and benign disease. In short, this study revealed the value of serum circulating m(6)A miRNAs in cancer detection and provided a new direction and strategy for the development of novel biomarkers with high accuracy, low cost and less invasiveness for mass cancer screening, such as RNA modification.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates the significant value of m(6)A miRNAs in cancer detection. By developing a serum diagnostic signature based on m(6)A target miRNAs, it enables mass detection of multiple cancer types with high accuracy and sensitivity in distinguishing different cancer types.