Polymerase chain reaction analyses validated that three of them—miR-92a-2*, miR-147, and miR-574-5p—were indeed associated with progression, Dr. Weiss said.
The investigators are currently assessing how the identified microRNAs may reduce a tumor's sensitivity to chemotherapy, according to Dr. Weiss.
“If we can independently validate our findings in other tumor sample sets collected from small cell lung cancer patients, we can begin to explore [by] using these microRNAs to design better clinical trials and perhaps find new therapies that help patients at higher risk for resistance to current standard chemotherapy treatment,” he concluded.
Disclosures: Dr. Lee reported that she had no conflicts of interest related to the study. Dr. Ostroff's employer is the manufacturer of the study assay. Dr. Weiss has filed patents for the use of microRNAs as theranostics, and has received funding from the Sylvia-Chase Foundation, the American Cancer Society, the IBIS Foundation of Arizona, the TGen Foundation, and Scottsdale Healthcare to conduct this work.