Prostate Cancer (PC) and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) Differentiation by New miRNA Biomarker Panel

Ready-to-Use fully optimized SSNA miRNA In Situ Hybridization (ISH) Kit

Prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) are the most frequent and deadly pathologies of the prostate gland. It is estimated that in 2018, 164,690 new cases and 29,430 deaths may occur due to prostate cancer in the United States of America. Therefore, early diagnosis and timely detection of disease progression is a very important step for effective treatment and a beneficial clinical outcome. Unlike prostate cancer, BPH is nonmalignant and nonfatal, however, BPH and prostate cancer frequently coexist (20% of documented cases) and therefore share common symptoms. An important clinical challenge in prostate oncology is to distinguish the aggressive and nonaggressive form, without requiring all patients to undergo tissue biopsy. Currently available diagnostic methods do not have major impact on disease outcome, highlighting the urgent need for new approaches for diagnosis and prognosis. The discovery of microRNAs (miRNAs) has enhanced our understanding about cancer biology.

miRNAs are small, noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression and play important role in carcinogenesis and metastasis. Due to their well-established selectivity and specificity, miRNAs can represent a useful tool, both in diagnosis and therapy, in forging the path towards the achievement of precision medicine. In prostatic carcinoma, miRNAs have been implicated as promoters and regulators of tumorigenesis. To date, interpretation of miRNA function in prostate cancer has been limited by the inability to differentiate intermediate grades in situ on a cellular level, as profiling based strategies using tissue homogenates may not adequately resolve expression differences in the tumor micro environment. BioGenex Super Sensitive^TM Nucleic Acid microRNA in situ hybridization (SSNA miRNA ISH) probes can be used to unambiguously identify miRNA expression profile in different grades of prostate cancer and BPH, with high sensitivity and specificity.

Super Sensitive Nucleic Acid (SSNA) miRNA probes:

BioGenex has developed proprietary Super Sensitive Nucleic Acid (SSNA) miRNA probes that enhance signals from intrinsically low populated miRNAs. The SSNA oligos are synthesized using specially designed bases to give super high melting temperatures. The high melting temperatures enable stringent washes at elevated temperatures to remove non-specific binding. BioGenex miRNA probes are dual-end labeled on 3’ and 5’ with five FAM molecules that amplify the signal, giving intense stains. The high-density fluorophore-labeled SSNA probes combined with the BioGenex Super Sensitive ™ Detection System aid in studying the lowly expressed miRNA populations and miRNA expression profiles to assess the physiological function of miRNA.

The miRNA expression profiles are used to assess the cancer type or conditions for the below types:

1. Cancer of unknown primary
2. Undifferentiated and poorly differentiated tumors
3. Classification of cancer subtypes
4. Grading and staging of cancer

BioGenex is pleased launch two Super Sensitive^TM Nucleic Acid microRNA in situ hybridization (SSNA miRNA ISH) probes and automated systems for differentiation of prostate cancer and BPH. BioGenex unique SSNA miRNA ISH probes enable detection of single nucleotide mismatch thus allowing high sensitivity and specificity. BioGenex miRNA ISH panel probes are currently one of the best products for complex diagnostic assays. Over 240 ready-to-use (RTU) miRNA probes are now available, and more are being developed. BioGenex miRNA-ISH detection kits are optimized for miRNA detection with robust amplification of the signal producing clean intense staining. Each kit includes easy-to-follow protocols and ready-to-use (RTU) reagents. Due to high sensitivity and specificity of the probes, these kits can be used for either manual staining or high-throughput, automated staining. BioGenex SSNA miRNA probes combined with the automated processing using Xmatrx® greatly increases the reliability of the test results through the elimination of error-prone ISH procedure. BioGenex fully-automated molecular pathology workstations are the most advanced system globally.

BioGenex Xmatrx® automated systems and BioGenex miRNA ISH prostate panel probes were used to successfully differentiate prostate cancer and BPH. miRNA expression profiles were evaluated in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) cases of different grades of prostate cancer, including paired normal prostate and BPH (1) and high-grade prostate cancer (2). The study findings demonstrated deregulation of miR-17 in prostate cancer IV tissues compared to the normal group. There was no significant difference in expression patterns of miR-17 in prostate cancer II and III. However, miR-125b was strongly upregulated in over 70% of cases of prostate cancer IV and III tissues, suggesting an oncogenic role of these miRNAs in prostate cancer tumorigenesis. In BPH tissues, only miR-205 was significantly upregulated, while miR-17 and miR-125b did not show any significant variation in expression pattern (1). The study findings underscore the importance of visualizing miRNA expression to differentiate cancer and benign cells with spatial differentiation in FFPE tumor tissues. The data also correlates well with other studies that showed that miR-125b is downregulated in prostate cancer, and its low expression associated with poor survival (2-4). An additional study reports overexpression of miR-17 in high-grade prostate cancer suggesting the possibility of using miR-17 as a biomarker for the aggressive prostate cancer phenotype (5).

Please click on above links to download Biomarker Panel and Application Note for Prostate Cancer (PC) and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) Differentiation.

BioGenex also has an extensive catalog of over 240 unique miRNA probes

References:

1. Thakur S et al. In situ expression profiling of microRNA in different grades of prostate cancer. Presented as Poster in Annual Meeting of the United States & Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP), 2015.
2. Giangreco AA et al. Tumor suppressor microRNAs, miR-100 and -125b, are regulated by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D in primary prostate cells and in patient tissue. Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2013;6:483-94.
3. Yu J et al. miR-200b suppresses cell proliferation, migration and enhances chemosensitivity in prostate cancer by regulating Bmi-1. Oncol Rep. 2014;31:910-8.
4. Wang N et al. miR-205 is frequently downregulated in prostate cancer and acts as a tumor suppressor by inhibiting tumor growth. Asian J Androl. 2013;15:735-41.
5. Gaston SM et al. Overexpression of miR-17 family miRNAs in prostate cancer biopsies: Evidence for a stem-cell-like miRNA profile in high grade/ high stage tumors. Cancer Research 2010;70:3049.