Emerging role of microRNAs as liquid biopsy biomarkers in lung cancer: A review

Abstract

The emergence of patient-tailored medicine has changed all measurable disease outcomes. Among human diseases, cancers appear to be the most dangerous. Furthermore, lung cancers rank the first among human cancers in both morbidity and mortality. When lung cancer is clinically diagnosed, it is often too late for therapy. The absence of accurate and specific tools for early detection results in a poor prognosis for lung cancer. The discovery of microRNAs and their function in lung cancer offers a new mechanism for the detection of lung cancer cells. These molecules, derived from cancerous cells, circulate in the patient's blood. Recently, a revolutionary technique, i.e., liquid biopsy has shown promise in discovering these circulating microRNAs molecules in body fluids, namely peripheral blood. A liquid biopsy allows the detection and isolation of circulating tumor cells, circulating nucleotides, and cellular exosome as a source of genomic and proteomic information in cancerous patients, especially in the early stages of cancer cell development. In this review, by searching various databases, including PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus, we explore liquid biopsy as a novel tool and the application of miRNAs in lung cancer detection in diagnostic pathology.