Associations of plasma extracellular microRNAs with new-onset breast cancer in the Framingham heart study

Hannah Karlin; Martin Larson; Jian Rong; Tianxiao Huan; Paul Courchesne; Jane E Freedman; Jennifer E Ho; Kahraman Tanriverdi; Gregory P Mueller; Daniel Levy

doi:10.62347/KMFI7371

Associations of plasma extracellular microRNAs with new-onset breast cancer in the Framingham heart study

Am J Cancer Res. 2024 Nov 25;14(11):5568-5572. doi: 10.62347/KMFI7371. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Hannah Karlin^{1

2}, Martin Larson^{1

3}, Jian Rong^{1

4}, Tianxiao Huan^{1

2

5}, Paul Courchesne^{1

2}, Jane E Freedman⁶, Jennifer E Ho^{1

7

8}, Kahraman Tanriverdi⁶, Gregory P Mueller⁹, Daniel Levy^{1

2

10}

Affiliations

¹ Framingham Heart Study Framingham, MA, USA.
² Population Sciences Branch, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD, USA.
³ Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health Boston, MA, USA.
⁴ Department of Neurology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine Boston, MA, USA.
⁵ Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Massachusetts Medical School Worcester, MA, USA.
⁶ Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville, TN, USA.
⁷ Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Boston, MA, USA.
⁸ Harvard Medical School Boston, MA, USA.
⁹ Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Genetics, F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Bethesda, MD, USA.
¹⁰ Boston University School of Medicine Boston, MA, USA.

Abstract

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women. Multiple microRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to be associated with breast cancer progression or metastasis. The purpose of the current study was to identify plasma extracellular miRNAs associated with incident breast cancer. Levels of 166 plasma miRNA were measured using qRT-PCR in 2140 Framingham Heart Study female participants with a median follow up of 15.7 years. Prospective analyses of the associations of miRNAs with the occurrence of 56 new-onset breast cancer events were conducted using proportional hazards regression. The expression levels miR-134-5p (P=0.002) and miR-505-3p (P=0.005) were found to be positively associated with incident breast cancer after adjusting for age, body mass index, and cigarette smoking. These results highlight plasma miRNAs as potential biomarkers of breast cancer risk. Validation of these findings in larger and more diverse cohorts is warranted.

Keywords: Breast cancer; biomarker; extracellular RNA; microRNA; risk factors.