Circulating MicroRNAs as Novel Potential Diagnostic Biomarkers for Osteosarcoma: A Systematic Review

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a fast-progressing bone tumor with high incidence in children and adolescents. The main diagnostic methods for OS are imaging exams and biopsies. In spite of the several resources available for detecting the disease, establishing an early diagnosis is still difficult, resulting in worse prognosis and lower survival rates for patients with OS. The identification of novel biomarkers would be helpful, and recently, circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have been pointed to as possible non-invasive biomarkers. In order to assess the effectiveness of miRNA research, we performed a systematic review to assess the potential role of circulating miRNAs as biomarkers for OS diagnosis. We performed a search in various databases-PubMed, LILACS (Literatura Latino-americana e do Caribe em Ciencias da Saude), VHL (Virtual Health Library), Elsevier, Web of Science, Gale Academic One File-using the terms: Circulating microRNAs OR plasma microRNAs OR serum microRNAs OR blood microRNAs OR cell-free microRNAs OR exosome microRNAs OR extracellular vesicles microRNAs OR liquid biopsy AND osteosarcoma AND diagnostic. We found 35 eligible studies that were independently identified and had had their quality assessed according to Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS-2) guidelines. Despite the useful number of publications on this subject and the fact that several microRNAs showed excellent diagnostic performance for OS, the lack of consistency in results suggests that additional prospective studies are needed to confirm the role of circulating miRNAs as non-invasive biomarkers in OS.

Automated summary

Osteosarcoma is a fast-progressing bone tumor with high incidence in children and adolescents. Circulating microRNAs have been identified as potential non-invasive biomarkers for diagnosis, but the lack of consistency in results suggests the need for additional prospective studies to confirm their role in osteosarcoma.