Background
Novel cancer biomarkers like microRNA (miRNA) are promising tools to gain a better understanding of lung cancer pathology and yield important information to guide therapy. In recent years, new less invasive
Conclusions
The miRNA expression profile is feasible and reliable in EBUS-TBNA specimens. Validation of this protocol in fresh cytological specimens represents an effective and reproducible method to correlate translational and clinical research.
Methods
Patients with proven NSCLC underwent EBUS-TBNA for the diagnosis of suspect lymph node metastasis, and cytological specimens were collected for epithelial cell culture and miRNA expression analysis. To validate the miRNA expression profile, we compared the
Results
Analysis of the miRNA expression profiles of three independent EBUS-TBNA-derived primary cell lines allowed the screening of 377 different human miRNAs. One hundred and fifty miRNAs were detected in all cell lines. Analysis of the miRNA expression profile in mediastinoscopy specimens showed a strong similarity in the clusters analysed. Conclusions: The miRNA expression profile is feasible and reliable in EBUS-TBNA specimens. Validation of this protocol in fresh cytological specimens represents an effective and reproducible method to correlate translational and clinical research.