Serum miRNA-1 may serve as a promising noninvasive biomarker for predicting treatment response in breast cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: MicroRNA-1 (miR-1) is a tumour suppressor that can inhibit cell proliferation and invasion in several cancer types. In addition, miR-1 was found to be associated with drug sensitivity. Circulating miRNAs have been proven to be potential biomarkers with predictive and prognostic value. However, studies of miR-1 expression in the serum of breast cancer (BC) patients are relatively scarce, especially in patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). METHODS: Serum samples from 80 patients were collected before chemotherapy, and RT-PCR was performed to detect the serum expression of miR-1. The correlation between miR-1 expression in serum and clinicopathological factors, including pathological complete response (pCR), was analyzed by the chi-squared test and logistic regression. KEGG and GSEA analysis were also performed to determine the biological processes and signalling pathways involved. RESULTS: The miR-1 high group included more patients who achieved a pCR than did the miR-1 low group (p < 0.001). Higher serum miR-1 levels showed a strong correlation with decreased ER (R = 0.368, p < 0.001) and PR (R = 0.238, p = 0.033) levels. The univariate model of miR-1 for predicting pCR achieved an AUC of 0.705 according to the ROC curve. According to the interaction analysis, miR-1 interacted with Ki67 to predict the NAC response. According to the Kaplan-Meier plot, a high serum miR-1 level was related to better disease-free survival (DFS) in the NAC cohort. KEGG analysis and GSEA results indicated that miR-1 may be related to the PPAR signalling pathway and glycolysis. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, our data suggested that miR-1 could be a potential biomarker for pCR and survival outcomes in patients with BC treated with NAC.