Comparison of plasma and urinary microRNA-483-5p for the diagnosis of adrenocortical malignancy

Abstract Introduction Minimally invasive circulating microRNAs might be used for the preoperative differentiation of adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) and adrenocortical adenoma (ACA). So far, the best blood-borne microRNA biomarker of ACC is circulating hsa-miR-483-5p . The expression of urinary hsa-miR-483-5p as a non-invasive marker of malignancy and its correlation with plasma hsa-miR-483-5p , has not been investigated, yet. Aim Our aim was to investigate the expression of urinary hsa-miR-483-5p and its correlation with its plasma counterpart. Methods Plasma and urinary samples from 23 ACC and 23 ACA patients were analysed using real-time RT-qPCR. To evaluate the diagnostic applicability of hsa-miR-483-5p , ROC-analysis was performed. Results Significant overexpression of hsa-miR-483-5p was observed in carcinoma patients’ plasma samples compared to adenoma patients’ (p  Conclusions Plasma hsa-miR-483-5p has been confirmed as significantly overexpressed in adrenocortical cancer patients and thus might be exploited as a minimally invasive preoperative marker of malignancy. The applicability of urinary hsa-miR-483-5p for the diagnosis of adrenocortical malignancy could not be confirmed.