Serum microRNAs: Biomarkers for cancer?

NANJING, China, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Chinese medical scientists say they've discovered serum microRNAs, or miRNAs, can serve as biomarkers for the detection of such diseases as cancer and diabetes.

The researchers at the Nanjing University School of Life Sciences said their discovery might lead to a revolutionary non-invasive diagnostic tool for physicians.

The scientists, led by Chen-Yu Zhang, said miRNAs are a class of naturally occurring, small non-coding RNAs that have been linked with cancer development. Recent studies reporting individual miRNAs as diagnostic biomarkers of specific cancers were unable to rule out the possibility that those miRNAs appeared as a result of contamination.

Zhang said the new study is the first to comprehensively characterize entire blood miRNA profiles of healthy subjects and patients with lung cancer, colorectal cancer and diabetes, ruling out contamination. The researchers propose the specific serum miRNA expression profiles they identified constitute "fingerprints" for cancer and disease.

The research is reported in the journal Cell Research.