MicroRNAs as promising diagnostic and prognostic markers for the human genitourinary cancer

Abstract

Genitourinary cancer (GUC) represents more than one fifth of all human cancers. This makes the development of approaches to its early diagnosis an important task of modern biomedicine. Circulating microRNAs, short (17–25 nucleotides) non-coding RNA molecules found in human biological fluids and performing a regulatory role in the cell, are considered as promising diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of cancers, including GUC. In this review we have considered the current state of research aimed at assessing microRNAs as biomarkers of such human GUC types as malignant tumors of the bladder, kidney, prostate, testicles, ovaries, and cervix. A special attention has been paid to studies devoted to the identification of microRNAs in urine as a surrogate “liquid biopsy” that may provide the simplest and cheapest approach to mass non-invasive screening of human GUC. The use of microRNA panels instead of single types of microRNA generally leads to higher sensitivity and specificity of the developed diagnostic tests. However, to date, work on the microRNAs assessment as biomarkers of human GUC is still of a research nature, and the further introduction of diagnostic tests based on microRNAs into practice requires successful clinical trials.