Non-coding RNA repertoires in malignant pleural mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of Non-coding RNA repertoires in malignant pleural mesothelioma, by L. Quinn, S.P. Finn, S. Cuffe, et al (Lung Cancer, 2015).

The study

• Authors: L. Quinn, S.P. Finn, S. Cuffe, S.G. Gray
• Journal: Lung Cancer
• Published: 2015;90(3):417-26
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 17 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare malignancy, with extremely poor survival rates. There are limited treatment options, with no second line standard of care for those who fail first line chemotherapy. Recent advances have been made to characterise the underlying molecular mechanisms of mesothelioma, in the hope of providing new targets for therapy. With the discovery that non-coding regions of our DNA are more than mere junk, the field of research into non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) has exploded in recent years. Non-coding RNAs have diverse and important roles in a variety of cellular processes, but are also implicated in malignancy. In the following review, we discuss two types of non-coding RNAs, long non-coding RNAs and microRNAs, in terms of their role in the pathogenesis of MPM and their potential as both biomarkers and as therapeutic targets in this disease.

Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

In plain English

This article is a review, not a new study. The authors summarized published research on two kinds of non-coding RNA, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs), in malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). They covered how these molecules may be involved in the disease and whether they could help with diagnosis, predicting survival, or treatment. In one study they described, six lncRNAs told benign from malignant tissue with 71.4% sensitivity and 100% specificity. In another, adding the miRNA hsa-miR-103a-3p to the blood marker mesothelin raised sensitivity to 95% but lowered specificity to 81%. They also described cell and mouse studies in which restoring certain miRNAs reduced mesothelioma growth. They reported early data from a phase I trial, MesomiR 1: all six first patients completed eight weeks of treatment, and one showed an almost complete metabolic response on PET scan. The authors said they believed continued research would confirm the potential targets discussed. They cautioned that the number of studies is small and that some findings may lack independent confirmation or may conflict.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Narrative review of published research
• Who was studied: Published studies of malignant pleural mesothelioma that used MPM cell lines, tumor tissue, patient blood or serum, mice, and one early-phase clinical trial. The review does not report any patients or data of its own.
• Exposure: The review did not study asbestos exposure. Its subject is non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs and miRNAs) in MPM. The introduction calls asbestos exposure the key risk factor for malignant mesothelioma.
• Main results:
  • In a study by Reid and colleagues that the review described, six validated lncRNAs distinguished benign from malignant tissue with 71.4% sensitivity and 100% specificity.
  • In a study the review described, combining the miRNA hsa-miR-103a-3p with mesothelin raised sensitivity to 95% but lowered specificity to 81%.
  • In a study by Ak et al. that the review described, 11 miRNAs differed between MPM and benign asbestos-related pleural effusion (BAPE), and four had potential diagnostic value.
  • In a study by Pass and colleagues that the review described, patients with higher hsa-miR-29c expression had a better prognosis regardless of their asbestos exposure.
  • In a study by Kirschner et al. that the review described (8 short-term and 8 long-term survivors after extrapleural pneumonectomy), a six-miRNA score classified 92.3% of patients who had this surgery into good or poor prognosis.
  • In a mouse study the review described, 2 of 8 mice given MPM cells treated with a hsa-miR-145 mimic developed palpable tumors, compared with all 8 mice given control-treated cells.
  • Preliminary data from the phase I MesomiR 1 trial: all 6 patients in the first cohort completed the 8-week regimen, and one patient showed an almost complete metabolic response on PET scan.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors said they believed continued research into non-coding RNAs in MPM will confirm the potential therapeutic targets discussed and produce new ones. They also said non-coding RNAs offer a non-invasive detection method with potentially higher sensitivity.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Because mesothelioma is rare, only a small number of research studies exist.
  • Some of the evidence discussed may be limited in strength because findings may not have been independently confirmed.
  • In some instances the data conflict.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Lung cancer, Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Pleural Mesothelioma, Chemotherapy, Mesothelioma, Discovery, Biomarker.

Related studies

• Long non coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are dysregulated in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (MPM) — C.M. Wright, M.B. Kirschner, et al. (2013)
• GAS5 long non-coding RNA in malignant pleural mesothelioma — A. Renganathan, J. Kresoja-Rakic, et al. (2014)
• Frequent coamplification and cooperation between C-MYC and PVT1 oncogenes promote malignant pleural mesothelioma — E. Riquelme, M.B. Suraokar, et al. (2014)
• Clinical significance of serum DRAM1 mRNA, ARSA mRNA, hsa-miR-2053 and lncRNA-RP1-86D1.3 axis expression in malignant pleural mesothelioma — M. Matboli, A.E. Shafei, et al. (2019)
• Advancing Pan-cancer Gene Expression Survial Analysis by Inclusion of Non-coding RNA — B. Ye, J. Shi, et al. (2020)
• Novel genes and pathways modulated by syndecan-1: implications for the proliferation and cell-cycle regulation of malignant mesothelioma cells — T. Szatmári, F. Mundt, et al. (2012)

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