March 28, 2019
National Cancer Center Japan
Keio University School of Medicine
Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development
A research team from the National Cancer Center Japan (NCC; President: Hitoshi Nakagama; Chuo-ku, Tokyo), including the Division of Molecular and Cellular Medicine, Research Institute (Project Leader Takahiro Ochiya [now Professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine, Institute of Medical Science, Tokyo Medical University] and Specially Appointed Researcher Juntaro Matsuzaki), the Department of Musculoskeletal Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital (Head, Akira Kawai and Physician, Naofumi Asano [now Assistant Professor, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine]), and the Carcinogenesis Research Unit (Unit Head, Naoto Tsuchiya), has identified novel diagnostic biomarkers in the blood that can distinguish malignant bone and soft tissue tumors with high accuracy.
In this study, a comprehensive analysis of microRNAs in the blood of 897 patients with malignant, intermediate, and benign bone and soft tissue tumors, 275 healthy individuals, and 240 patients with other cancers was conducted. The team confirmed that by using a combination of seven types of microRNAs highly expressed in malignant bone and soft tissue tumors as a diagnostic index, malignant tumors could be detected with extremely high accuracy, achieving 90% sensitivity and 95% specificity. These findings suggest that diagnosis using serum microRNAs may be useful for the early diagnosis of benign or malignant bone and soft tissue tumors and for monitoring the recurrence of malignant tumors. A prospective clinical trial is currently underway with the aim of future clinical application.
This research was supported by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) under its "Project for the Development of a Technological Infrastructure for Measuring MicroRNAs in Body Fluids," part of the Project for Development of Fundamental Technologies for Drug Discovery to Realize Next-Generation Treatment and Diagnosis. The research findings were published in the British scientific journal "Nature Communications" on March 21.
For the full press release, please see below.