Circulating miRNAs released by mammals with high and low mammary cancer incidence as indicators of human breast cancer risk

Our research group takes a comparative species approach to study BC risk by capitalizing on data from species with inherently low or high incidence of mammary cancer to supplement rare human samples. Circulating microRNAs (c-miRNAs) are a promising class of molecules that have the potential to serve as biomarkers for BC risk.

The expression of these non-coding RNAs controls numerous cellular processes and their dysregulation is associated with various pathological conditions, including cancer. To explore whether c-miRNA expression profiles can identify individuals at high risk for BC, we conducted a multi-species pilot study. We analyzed biofluid samples (i.e., saliva, serum, and plasma) from patients with early-stage BC and patients with no prior history of cancer and mammosphere-derived epithelial cells (MDECs) from dogs (canines) and horses (equines), species with a relatively high and low incidence of mammary cancer, respectively.