Cancer cytopathology
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Cancer cytopathology · Apr 2014
Comparative StudymRNA and miRNA analyses in cytologically positive endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration: implications for molecular staging in lung cancer patients.
Lung cancer is highly aggressive and tends to metastasize early. Therefore, accurate mediastinal staging is important for therapeutic decision making. Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) has emerged as a minimally invasive procedure for mediastinal lymph node sampling and cancer staging. Classical EBUS-TBNA cytology has been combined with molecular staging techniques to improve sensitivity and specificity. This study aimed to assess mRNA integrity in samples acquired by EBUS-TBNA in the clinics. As proof-of-principle experiments, we also investigated whether stable miRNA could be detected in these samples. ⋯ Under clinical conditions, mRNA detection is likely unsuitable for improving sensitivity of EBUS-TBNA-facilitated cancer staging. In contrast, detection of miRNA combined with EBUS-TBNA cytology may improve staging sensitivity.