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MicroRNA analysis of fine-needle aspirates from pancreatic cancer.

200 Background: Tissue-based research is a major challenge in localized pancreatic cancer (PC) especially those with locally advanced unresectable or borderline resectable disease. Approximately half of the patients are diagnosed by a fine needle aspirate (FNA) /biopsy of the pancreatic primary tumor with limited tissue available for correlative assays. Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) are biomarkers with the potential to be developed for prognostic and predictive purposes. Moreover, these molecules can facilitate the development of targeted therapies in PC.


METHODS
miRNA expression profiling and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) were performed from RNA (25-100 ng per patient) extracted from formalin-embedded cell blocks (FFPE) obtained from diagnostic FNA of the pancreas. Expression profiles of miRNAs were compared to those from patients undergoing pancreatic biopsy for non-malignant conditions.


RESULTS
Cell blocks from FNAs from twenty-nine and 15 patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma and non-malignant conditions were studied, respectively. miRNA profiling demonstrated deregulation of over 228 miRNA. The top 7 were validated by qRT-PCR. The expression of let-7c, let-7f, and miR-200c were significantly reduced in most patients. Conversely, the expression levels of miR-486-5p and miR-451 were significantly elevated. Significant interindividual variations were also noted in expression of certain miRNAs.


CONCLUSIONS
FFPE obtained from diagnostic FNA of pancreatic tumor can be a valuable resource to study miRNA expression profiles of multiple miRNAs and undertake qRT-PCR in patients with localized PC and further supports the use of diagnostic FNA in RNA-based translational research. miRNA expression can be developed for use as prognostic and predictive biomarkers in future clinical trials in patients with PC.