Abstract 4087
Background
Deregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) expression is observed virtually in all major types of neoplasm and miRNAs level in blood circulation are investigated as a potential diagnostics or prognostics biomarkers for neoplastic disorders. Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) is the most common sarcoma of the gastrointestinal tract and to date performed studies on GISTs have provided mounting evidence on altered miRNA association with clinical, pathological features and Imatinib resistance in GIST. However, the utility of circulating miRNA as response markers of GIST progression and for Imatinib treatment have not been evaluated
Methods
36 metastatic or unresectable CD-117-positive GIST patients, were enrolled and serum sample was collected prior to Imatinib treatment. All patients responded initially to imatinib therapy. In 12 patients an additional serum sample was collected following targeted treatment at the time of remission. Control group comprised 30 healthy individuals. MiRNAs were isolated from serum with MirVANA miRNA Isolation Kit and then analyzed using deep sequencing on Ion Torrent PGM. Reads were mapped to miRBase miRNA collection with miRDeep2. Differential expression was evaluated with edgeR.
Results
Deep sequencing identified 1284 miRNAs. The pair-wise comparison between Imatinib treated and Imatinib-naive GIST samples uncovered 22 miRNAs with differential expression (adjusted p value
Conclusions
Circulating miRNA abundances can distinguish GIST patients from those in remission following Imatinib therapy as well as from the healthy controls. However, further studies evaluating the potential of designated microRNAs as response markers for treatment or as predictive markers of GIST are warranted.
Clinical trial identification
Legal entity responsible for the study
Piotr Rutkowski
Funding
the grant from National Science Center [2013/11/B/NZ5/03165 to PR
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.