Pancreatic cancer cell exosomal microRNA as diagnostic marker

Pancreatic cancer has a dismal prognosis partly due to late diagnosis, where a reliable non-invasive diagnosis is urgently wanted. We here explored, whether serum-derived PaCa exosomes may provide a diagnostic means and microRNA may be advantageous. Exosomes were collected from the serum of 133 patients with pancreatic cancer, 22 patients with non-malignant pancreatic tumors, 25 patients with chronic pancreatitis and 20 healthy donors. Exosomes were isolated by ultracentrifugation and used qRT-PCR for miRNA quantification and miRCURY LNA microRNA Array for miRNA analysis. Exosomes isolated from human serum or human pancreatic cancer cell lines culture supernatant. Healthy exosomes and serum were pooled from 10 healthy donors. Patient exosomes and serum were pooled from 12 pancreatic cancer patients. Pancreatic cancer cell culture supernatant exosome was pooled from 9 human cancer cell lines. MicroRNA isolated from serum and exosomes for miRCURY LNA microRNA Array assay. To find out the candidates for pancreatic cancer diagnosis, we compared the expression profile of healthy, patient, and cancer cell culture supernatant exosomal MicroRNA.