The identification of plasma exosomal miR-423-3p as a potential predictive biomarker for prostate cancer castration-resistance development by plasma exosomal miRNA sequencing

Exosomal miRNAs play important roles in cancer progression and therapeutic resistance and have shown great potential as liquid biopsy biomarkers for cancer diagnosis/prognosis. We investigated for the first time plasma exosomal miRNAs for their association with and early detection potential of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). RNA-sequencing was performed to identify candidate exosomal miRNAs associated with development of CRPC in 24 treatment-naive prostate cancer (PCa) and 24 CRPC patients. Overall design: Examine differentially expressed plasma exosomal miRNAs between 24 treatment-naïve prostate cancer patients and 24 castration-resistant prostate cancer patients.