For the first time, researchers identified a circular RNA (circRNA) signature from tumor-educated platelets (TEPs) as a potential diagnostic and predictive biomarker for gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs). Their findings were published in the Journal of Translational Medicine.
According to researchers, early diagnosis of NETs “is a clinical challenge that requires a deep understanding of molecular and genetic features of this heterogeneous group of neoplasms. However, few biomarkers exist to aid diagnosis and to predict prognosis and treatment response.”
In this 24-month, prospective, proof-of-concept study, researchers assessed men and women with histologically proven, well-differentiated G1-G2 GEP-NETs. Patients included in the study population were between the ages of 18 and 80 years and were naïve to treatment. The researchers performed an RNA-seq analysis of 252 circRNAs obtained from TEP samples of 10 patients with GEP-NETs at baseline and following 3 months of treatment, and from a control group of 5 patients affected by nonmalignant endocrinological diseases.
The results from statistical analyses of GEP-NETs at baseline and after therapy in 5 patients showed an average of 4982 remarkably differentially expressed circRNAs, of which 2648 up-regulated and 2334 down-regulated.
“Our findings identified for the first time a circRNA signature from TEPs as potential diagnostic and predictive biomarkers for GEP-NETs,” the researchers concluded.
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