iScience (Feb 2023)

Combination of serum human satellite RNA and miR-21-5p levels as a biomarker for pancreatic cancer

  • Takahiro Seimiya,
  • Tatsunori Suzuki,
  • Takuma Iwata,
  • Takahiro Kishikawa,
  • Kazuma Sekiba,
  • Chikako Shibata,
  • Kazunaga Ishigaki,
  • Hiroaki Fujiwara,
  • Hiroki Oyama,
  • Sachiko Kanai,
  • Tatsuya Sato,
  • Yousuke Nakai,
  • Rei Ishibashi,
  • Masaru Moriyama,
  • Ryo Nakagawa,
  • Hideaki Ijichi,
  • Motoyuki Otsuka,
  • Kazuhiko Koike

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 26, no. 2
p. 106021

Abstract

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Summary: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has a poor prognosis due to the difficulty of its diagnosis. Because human satellite II (HSATII) RNA, a satellite repeat RNA, is highly and specifically expressed in human PDAC, the serum HSATII RNA level may be a biomarker of PDAC. To measure the serum HSATII RNA level with high sensitivity and reproducibility, we previously developed a convenient method, tandem repeat amplification by nuclease protection (TRAP) combined with droplet digital PCR (ddPCR). Here, we refined the original method by simultaneously measuring the serum miR-21-5p level to enhance the detection of PDAC. The resulting PDAC-Index, constructed using serum HSATII RNA and miR-21-5p levels, discriminated patients with PDAC with high accuracy. We verified the clinical usefulness of the PDAC-Index as a supportive test in difficult-to-diagnose cases. The PDAC-Index has satisfactory diagnostic performance and may routinely be applied for detecting PDAC.

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