Circulating miR-210 as a Novel Hypoxia Marker in Pancreatic Cancer

MicroRNA are small noncoding transcripts involved in many cellular mechanisms, including tumorigenesis. miR-210, in particular, is induced by hypoxia and correlates with adverse outcomes in certain cancers. Because pancreatic adenocarcinomas exhibit extremely hypoxic signatures, we hypothesized that miR-210 may serve as a diagnostic marker for screening or surveillance for pancreatic cancer. Plasma samples were obtained from newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer patients and age-matched noncancer controls. miRNA was extracted directly from plasma and reverse-transcribed to complementary DNA. A known quantity of synthetic Caenorhabditis elegans miR-54 (cel-miR-54) was added for normalization. miR-210 and cel-miR-54 were then measured using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. An initial cohort of 11 pancreatic cancer patients and 14 age-matched controls was used as the test set and a second cohort of 11 pancreatic cancer patients and 11 controls was used as the validating set in this study. miR-210 was reliably detected and quantified, with a statistically significant four-fold increase in expression in pancreatic cancer patients compared with normal controls (P < .00004) in the test set. This difference was confirmed in the validation group (P < .018). In summary, circulating miR-210 levels are elevated in pancreatic cancer patients and may potentially serve as a useful biomarker for pancreatic cancer diagnosis.