Table 1 Circulating miRNAs in the serum as diagnostic markers for different tumor entities

B-Cell Lymphoma

Lawrie et al.

[23]

Tumor vs. normal, retrospective study on prognosis

60 patients vs. 43 healthy controls

3

Quantitative

RT-PCR

miRNA-16

miRNA-155, miRNA-210, and miRNA-21

Breast Cancer

Heneghan et al.

[73]

Tumor vs. normal

83 patients vs.

44 healthy controls

7

Quantitative

RT-PCR

miRNA-16

miRNA-195 and let7a

Zhu et al.

[83]

Tumor vs. normal

13 patients vs.

8 healthy controls

3

Quantitative

RT-PCR

18 s rRNA

miRNA-155

Colon Cancer

Huang et al.

[60]

Tumor vs. normal

Screening:

20 patients vs. 20 healthy controls

Validation:

80 patients, 37 adenomas and 39 healthy controls

12

Quantitative

RT-PCR

miRNA-16

miRNA-29 and miRNA92a

Ng et al.

[57]

Tumor vs. normal, tissue and serum

Screening:

5 plasma samples, associated tumor/normal tissue

1.validation:

25 patients vs. 20 healthy controls

2. validation

180 samples

95

Quantitative

RT-PCR Array

RNU6B

miR-17-3p and miR-92

Gastric Cancer

Tsujiura et al.

[85]

Tumor vs. Normal

Screening:

8 samples and associated tissue

Validation:

69 patients vs. 30 healthy controls

5

Quantitative

RT-PCR

RNU6B

miR-17-5p, miR-21,

miR-106a, miR-106b and

let-7a

Leukemia

Tanaka et al.

[56]

Tumor vs. Normal

Screening:

2 patients vs.

7 healthy controls

Validation:

61 patients vs. 16 healthy controls

723

microRNA Microarray (Agilent Technologies)

miRNA-638

miRNA-92a

Lung Cancer

Chen et al.

[24]

Tumor vs. normal

Screening:

Pool analysis

Validation:

152 patients vs. 75 healthy controls

Genome-wide profiling by Solexa sequencing

Solexa sequencing, Quantitative

RT-PCR

Directly normalized to total RNA

miRNA-25 and miRNA-223

Hu et al.

[74]

Study on prognosis (Overall survival)

Screening:

60 patients

Validation:

243 patients

Genome-wide profiling by Solexa sequencing

Solexa sequencing, Quantitative

RT-PCR

Referenced to control healthy serum sample

miR-486, miR-30 d, miR-1 and miR- 499

Oral Cancer

Liu et al.

[80]

Tumor vs. normal

43 patients vs.

21 healthy controls

1

Quantitative

RT-PCR arrays

miRNA-16

miR-31

Ovarian Cancer

Resnick et al.

[67]

Tumor vs. normal

Screening:

9 patients vs. 4 healthy controls

Validation:

19 patients vs. 11 healthy controls

365

Quantitative

RT-PCR arrays

U44/U48 and miRNA-142-3p

miRNA-21, miRNA-92, miRNA-93, miRNA-126, miRNA-29a, miRNA-155, miRNA-127 and miRNA-99b

Pancreatic Cancer

Ho et al.

[28]

Tumor vs. normal

Screening:

11 patients vs. 14 healthy controls,

Validation:

11 patients vs. 11 healthy controls

1

Quantitative

RT-PCR arrays

c. elegans spike-in miRNA-54

miRNA-210

Wang et al.

[61]

Tumor vs. normal

49 patients vs. 36 healthy controls

4

Quantitative

RT-PCR arrays

miRNA-16

miR-21, miR-210, miR-155, and miR-196a

Prostate Cancer

Mitchell et al.

[25]

Tumor vs. normal

Screening:

Pool analysis

Validation:

25 patients vs. 25 healthy controls

6

Quantitative

RT-PCR

c. elegans spike-in cel-miR-39, celmiR-54, and cel-miR-238

miRNA-141

Brase et al.

[72]

Low grade vs. high grade

Screening:

7 high grade vs. 14 low grade

Validation:

116 patients

667

Quantitative

RT-PCR arrays

c. elegans spike-in

cel-miR-39, celmiR-54, and cel-miR-238

miRNA-141,

miRNA-375

Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Wong et al.

[81]

Tumor vs. Normal tissue screening,

Validation in serum

30 patients vs. 38 healthy controls

1

Quantitative

RT-PCR arrays

miRNA-16

miRNA-184