根據(jù)本周發(fā)表在《細(xì)胞研究》雜志網(wǎng)站上的一項研究,，血清小RNA（miRNAs）可以成為一種生物標(biāo)記,，用于檢測包括癌癥和糖尿病在內(nèi)的疾病,。這些發(fā)現(xiàn)為一種革命性的無創(chuàng)診斷工具鋪平了道路,。
“如今,，幾乎所有常用的血清標(biāo)記是蛋白質(zhì),，而且測量它們的傳統(tǒng)方法需要繁重的實驗室勞動。沒有任何基于血清的測試目前適用于疾病診斷的廣泛應(yīng)用,，特別是對于腫瘤的早期探測,，”南京大學(xué)生命科學(xué)學(xué)院的Chen-Yu Zhang說。“因此我們的目標(biāo)是發(fā)現(xiàn)一類新的血清標(biāo)記,，用于臨床使用的甚至是藥物篩選和個體化醫(yī)療,。”
小RNA是一類自然產(chǎn)生的小的非編碼RNA，它與癌癥發(fā)展有關(guān),。近來的研究報告說,，一些作為特定癌癥診斷生物標(biāo)記的單獨的小RNA不能排除這些小RNA是以污染的形式出現(xiàn)的可能性。
Chen-Yu Zhang及其同事首次對健康受試者和肺癌,、結(jié)腸癌和糖尿病患者的整個血液小RNA特征進(jìn)行了全面辨識,，排除了污染。他們提出,，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)的特定的血清小RNA表達(dá)譜可以成為癌癥和疾病的“指紋”,。
盡管腫瘤標(biāo)記極大地促進(jìn)了診斷，目前的診斷技術(shù)是有創(chuàng)的,，令人望而卻步,，因此臨床應(yīng)用有限。這種新方法是無創(chuàng)的,，而且有潛力通過改善疾病診斷,、癌癥分類、預(yù)后估計,、療效預(yù)測,、術(shù)后監(jiān)測維持以及預(yù)測疾病復(fù)發(fā)的能力，從而轉(zhuǎn)變各種癌癥和疾病的臨床管理,。這種新技術(shù)還將有助于制藥公司發(fā)現(xiàn)對在III期臨床試驗中失敗的藥物做出反應(yīng)的人口亞群,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Cell Research advance online publication 2 September 2008; doi: 10.1038/cr.2008.282
Characterization of microRNAs in serum: a novel class of biomarkers for diagnosis of cancer and other diseases
Xi Chen1,*, Yi Ba2,*, Lijia Ma3,4,*, Xing Cai1, Yuan Yin1, Kehui Wang1, Jigang Guo1, Yujing Zhang1, Jiangning Chen1, Xing Guo1, Qibin Li3,4, Xiaoying Li5, Wenjing Wang6, Yan Zhang1, Jin Wang1, Xueyuan Jiang1, Yang Xiang1, Chen Xu1, Pingping Zheng3, Juanbin Zhang3, Ruiqiang Li3, Hongjie Zhang1, Xiaobin Shang2, Ting Gong2, Guang Ning5, Jun Wang3,4, Ke Zen1, Junfeng Zhang1 and Chen-Yu Zhang1
1 Jiangsu Diabetes Center, State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, 22 Hankou Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210093, China
2 Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin 300000, China
3 Beijing Genomics Institute, Shenzhen 518083, China
4 Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101300, China
5 Department of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to The Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China
6 Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shanghai 200336, China
Dysregulated expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) in various tissues has been associated with a variety of diseases, including cancers. Here we demonstrate that miRNAs are present in the serum and plasma of humans and other animals such as mice, rats, bovine fetuses, calves, and horses. The levels of miRNAs in serum are stable, reproducible, and consistent among individuals of the same species. Employing Solexa, we sequenced all serum miRNAs of healthy Chinese subjects and found over 100 and 91 serum miRNAs in male and female subjects, respectively. We also identified specific expression patterns of serum miRNAs for lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and diabetes, providing evidence that serum miRNAs contain fingerprints for various diseases. Two non-small cell lung cancer-specific serum miRNAs obtained by Solexa were further validated in an independent trial of 75 healthy donors and 152 cancer patients, using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assays. Through these analyses, we conclude that serum miRNAs can serve as potential biomarkers for the detection of various cancers and other diseases.
