Serum microRNA-155 as a potential biomarker for breast cancer screening

MicroRNAs (miRs) have been shown to be differentially expressed in the serum of cancer patients and controls, and can thus be used as biomarkers for cancer screening. We detected the expression level of miR-155 in the serum of female breast cancer patients and healthy controls to investigate whether serum miR-155 could discriminate patients with early-stage breast cancer. Serum samples were collected from 20 female patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer and 10 healthy controls. Real-time quantitative PCR was used to detect the expression level of miR-155. The expression level of miR-155 was significantly increased in the serum of breast cancer patients compared with in the serum of normal controls. MiR-155 may be useful as a blood-based biomarker for breast cancer screening.