Circulating MicroRNA Signatures as Prognostic Biomarkers in Breast Cancer: A Comprehensive Analysis of Expression Profiles, Functional Targets, and Survival Correlations
Abstract
Background: Circulating microRNAs are promising non-invasive biomarkers in the field of oncology. Notable gaps remain in relevant serum-focused research on early-stage breast cancer, so the present study integrates transcriptome data to identify a characteristic signature with both diagnostic and prognostic value.
Methods: This study first retrieved serum microRNA data from the publicly available chip dataset GSE73002, which includes 1270 patients with early-stage breast cancer and 2686 healthy controls. We used limma’s empirical Bayes method to analyze differential expression, predicted target genes using miRWalk, performed functional enrichment analysis, and then assessed its prognostic relevance using survival data from the TCGA-BRCA tissue cohort as a supportive, non-independent line of evidence.
Results: This study conducted miRNA omics analysis. Using FDR < 0.05 as the threshold, we screened out 1450 upregulated miRNAs and 898 downregulated miRNAs. Core upregulated miRNAs, including hsa-miR-614, showed clear target gene enrichment, and their high expression was significantly correlated with shorter overall survival in patients (HR=2.81, 95%CI 1.24–6.39, P=0.0098).
Conclusion: Early breast tumorigenesis may be characterized by the systemic dysregulation of circulating microRNAs that govern epigenetic and transcriptional networks. These specific signatures, notably hsa-miR-614, may serve as promising candidates for liquid biopsy-based diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers, pending further experimental and prospective clinical validation. The survival association reported here was derived from a tissue-based cohort (TCGA-BRCA) and should be interpreted as supportive evidence rather than independent validation in circulating samples; prospective studies using independent serum/plasma cohorts are needed to confirm prognostic utility in liquid biopsy settings.
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Authors
Copyright (c) 2026 Adam Neama Al-ebadi, Rasha Abd Ali Al-khalidi
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