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Despite prevention strategies, cervical cancer remains a significant public health issue. Human papillomavirus plays a critical role in its development, and early detection is vital to improve patient outcomes. The incidence of cervical cancer is projected to rise, necessitating better diagnostic tools. Traditional screening methods like the cytological examination and human papillomavirus testing have limitations in sensitivity and reproducibility. Liquid-based cytology offers some improvements, but the need for more reliable and sensitive techniques persists, particularly for detecting precancerous lesions. Liquid biopsy is a non-invasive method that analyzes cancer-derived products in biofluids like blood, offering potential for real-time monitoring of tumor progression, metastasis, and treatment response. It can be based on detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), circulating free DNA (cfDNA), and microRNAs (miRNAs). This review particularly underlines the potential of microRNAs, which are transported by extracellular vesicles. Overall, this article underscores the importance of continued research into non-invasive diagnostic methods like liquid biopsy to enhance cervical cancer screening and treatment monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: It is thought that poor placental perfusion caused by inadequate remodelling of the maternal spiral arteries leads to preeclampsia (PE). To identify novel signalling pathways that contribute to PE pathogenesis and to create prerequisites for the non-invasive diagnosis of PE before clinical manifestations of the disease, this study aimed to evaluate miRNA expression levels in the placenta and blood plasma of pregnant women.Methods: miRNA deep sequencing followed by real-time quantitative RT-PCR was applied to compare miRNA expression profiles in the placenta and blood plasma from women with early- and late-onset PE relative to the control group.Results: A more than two-fold decrease in miR-532-5p, -423-5p, -127-3p, -539-5p, -519a-3p, and -629-5p and let-7c-5p expression levels was observed in the placenta, while a more than two-fold increase in miR-423-5p, 519a-3p, and -629-5p and let-7c-5p was observed in the blood plasma of pregnant women with PE. The above-listed miRNAs are associated with PE for the first time in this study, except for miR-519a-3p, whose role in PE has already been postulated. Using a logistic regression, plasma samples were classified into the early-onset PE group (probability p = 0.01, 80% specificity, 87.5% sensitivity and 87.5% precision) and showed increased miR-423-5p expression levels that were confirmed by the 9.8-fold up-regulation (р = 0.0002498) of miR-423-5p expression observed in the blood plasma at 11-13 GW by RT-PCR in a group of pregnant women manifesting severe PE clinical signs at 28-33 GW.Conclusions: miR-423-5p may be considered a potential candidate for the early diagnosis of PE during the targeted management of high-risk pregnancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound methods used for the diagnosis of an abnormally invasive placenta (AIP) have a wide range of sensitivity (Se, 33–93%) and specificity (Sp, 71–100%) levels, which results in a high risk of unfavorable maternal and perinatal outcomes. The relevance of optimizing the diagnosis of AIP is beyond doubt. Given the epigenetic nature of trophoblast invasion, we aimed to quantitate microRNAs and proteins of their target genes that are potentially associated with AIP in blood plasma samples from 64 pregnant women at gestation weeks 30–34 by reverse transcription coupled with polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting, respectively. Statistically significant increases in the expression levels of hsa-miR-17-5p, hsa-miR-21-5p, hsa-miR-25-3p, hsa-miR-92a-3p, and hsa-miR-320a-3p were revealed in the groups of women with AIP (accreta, increta, percreta) relative to the group of women with scars on the uterus or to the group with placenta previa. Opposite changes in the expression level of "gene–target protein/miRNA" pairs were found for the α-subunit of the clusterin secretory form and any of the hsa-miR-21-5p, hsa-miR-25-3p, hsa-miR-92a-3p, hsa-miR-320a-3p, and hsa-miR-17-5p in all cases of AIP. The developed logistic regression models to diagnose AIP cases of various severity gave Se values of 88.8–100% and Sp values of 91.6–100% using a combination of hsa-miR-21-5p, hsa-miR-92a-3p, hsa-miR-320a-3p, or clusterin levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]