DNA integrity as biomarker in pancreatic cyst fluid.

Identification of pancreatic cysts with malignant potential is important to prevent pancreatic cancer development. Integrity of cell free DNA (cfDNA) has been described as tumor biomarker, but its potential for pancreatic cancer is unclear. While normal apoptotic cells release uniformly truncated DNA, malignant tissues release long fragments of cell free DNA (cfDNA). We measured 247 base pair (bp) and 115 bp DNA fragments of ALU repeats by qPCR in serum from healthy controls and pancreatic cancer patients, and in cyst fluid from pancreatic cyst patients. No differences in total cfDNA (ALU115) and cfDNA integrity (ALU247/115) were observed between sera from healthy controls (n=19) and pancreatic cancer patients (n=19). Although elevated as compared to serum, but no differences in cfDNA were found in cyst fluid from high risk (n=10) and low risk (n=20) cyst patients. We conclude that cfDNA integrity is not a useful marker to identify (pre)malignant pancreatic lesions.

miQ--a novel microRNA based diagnostic and prognostic tool for prostate cancer.

Today, the majority of prostate tumors are detected at early stages with uncertain prognosis. Therefore, we set out to identify early predictive markers of prostate cancer with aggressive progression characteristics. We measured the expression of microRNAs (miRNA) using qRT-PCR in formalin fixed and paraffin embedded prostatic tissue samples from a Swedish cohort of 49 patients with prostate cancer and 25 without cancer and found seven of 13 preselected miRNAs to discriminate between the two groups. Subsequently, four discriminatory miRNAs were combined to a quota, denoted the miRNA index quote (miQ); ((miR-96-5p × miR-183-5p)/(miR-145-5p × miR221-5p)). The advantage of using a quote is increased discrimination, no need for house-keepings, and most important it may be an advantage considering the heterogeneity of the disease. miQ was found to successfully predict diagnosis (p < 0.0001) with high accuracy (area under the curve, AUC = 0.931) that was verified in an independent Dutch cohort and three external cohorts, and significantly outperforming prostate-specific antigen. Importantly, miQ also has prognostic power to predict aggressiveness of tumors (AUC = 0.895), metastatic statues (AUC = 0.827) and overall survival (p = 0.0013, Wilcoxon test HR = 6.5, median survival 2 vs. 5 years), verified in the Dutch cohort. In this preliminary study, we propose that miQ has potential to be used as a clinical tool for prostate cancer diagnosis and as a prognostic marker of disease progression.