Serum microRNAs found to be promising diagnostic tools for papillary thyroid carcinoma

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most frequent type of thyroid cancer. In fact, it has been estimated that PTC is responsible for approximately 80%‒90% of all thyroid cancers. It is important to emphasize that papillary or abnormal structures can also be observed in benign (not harmful) or malignant (harmful) thyroid diseases; however, treatment options vary. Therefore, the diagnostic distinction between benign and malignant is crucial in determining clinical management, which may spare patients from unnecessary surgery.

Molecular biomarkers have exhibited promising results in cancer, which may improve preoperative patient care. To date, several studies focusing on serum microRNAs (miRNAs) in the detection of PTC have been published. Researchers from The Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the overall diagnostic accuracy of serum miRNAs for the diagnosis of PTC. Moreover, they identified potential sources of heterogeneity or diversity.

The results showed that serum miRNAs have good diagnostic performance for the discrimination of patients with PTC from patients with benign thyroid nodules and healthy individuals. Therefore, serum miRNAs can be considered as novel, promising, and minimally invasive diagnostic tools for PTC in clinical practice.

甲狀腺乳頭狀癌（PTC）是最常見的甲狀腺癌類型。事實上，據估計，大約 80% ～ 90% 的甲狀腺癌是由 PTC 引起的。需要強調的是，在良性（無害）或惡性（有害）甲狀腺疾病中也可以觀察到乳頭狀或異常結構；但是，治療方案各不相同。因此，良性和惡性之間的診斷區別對於確定臨床管理至關重要，這可以使患者免於不必要的手術。

分子生物標誌物在癌症中顯示出有希望的結果，這可能會改善術前患者護理。迄今為止，已經發表了幾項針對 PTC 檢測中血清 microRNA (miRNA) 的研究。福建醫科大學第二附屬醫院的研究人員進行了一項薈萃分析，以調查血清 miRNA 對 PTC 診斷的整體診斷準確性。此外，他們確定了異質性或多樣性的潛在來源。

結果表明，血清miRNA對於區分PTC患者與良性甲狀腺結節患者和健康個體具有良好的診斷性能。因此，血清 miRNA 在臨床實踐中可被視為 PTC 的新型、有前途的微創診斷工具。

Reference: Chen Y, Dong B, Huang L, Huang H. Serum microRNAs as biomarkers for the diagnosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma: a meta-analysis. Bosn J of Basic Med Sci [Internet]. 2022Jun.4 [cited 2022Jun.6];. Available from: https://www.bjbms.org/ojs/index.php/bjbms/article/view/7343

Editor: Merima Bukva, MPharm