A miRNA expression signature that separates between normal and malignant prostate tissues

Abstract

Abstract Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs) constitute a class of small non-coding RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate genes involved in several key biological processes and thus are involved in various diseases, including cancer. In this study we aimed to identify a miRNA expression signature that could be used to separate between normal and malignant prostate tissues. Results Nine miRNAs were found to be differentially expressed (p Conclusions We found an expression signature based on nine differentially expressed miRNAs that with high accuracy (85%) could classify the normal and malignant prostate tissues in patients from the Swedish Watchful Waiting cohort. The results show that there are significant differences in miRNA expression between normal and malignant prostate tissue, indicating that these small RNA molecules might be important in the biogenesis of prostate cancer and potentially useful for clinical diagnosis of the disease.