# Circulating lipid and miRNA markers for early detection of breast cancer among women with abnormal mammograms

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA · 2023 · $530,394

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the world. When breast cancer is found in early
stages, it can be effectively treated or even cured, but treating a patient in later stages is very difficult. Thus,
early detection of breast cancer is critical. Mammography is the current gold standard for breast cancer
screening; however, most women with abnormal mammograms are eventually found not to have breast
cancer. Fewer than 5 per 1,000 women actually have the disease when they are screened. Therefore, most
abnormal mammograms are false positives that require further investigations including expensive breast
imaging and biopsies, which can cause psychological distress. According to the American Cancer Society
(ACS), about 10% of women who have a mammogram will be called back for more tests, but only 8% to 10%
of those women will need a biopsy and 80% of those biopsies turn out to be benign. Therefore, the vast
majority of the women would have undergone unnecessary investigations.
 Our aim is to identify circulating lipid and miRNA signatures that can be used reliably as a companion
diagnostic tool together with screening mammography to reduce the number of unnecessary follow-up
investigations, especially invasive biopsy. In our preliminary studies, we have identified a panel of 15 plasma
lipid species that were able to distinguish early stage of cancer from benign lesions with over 90% accuracy.
Using a ratio based normalization method, we have also found 5 paired plasma miRNA ratios that differentiate
breast cancer from benign samples with over 90% accuracy. In order to validate our existing markers and
identify potential novel markers, as well as integrate lipid and miRNA markers to increase the accuracy for
early detection of breast cancer, we propose the following aims: 1. Validate and test the predictive value of
circulating lipid markers for early detection of breast cancer. 2. Establish circulating miRNA markers
for early detection of breast cancer. 3. Integrate circulating lipid and miRNA markers for early
detection of breast cancer.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10673061
- **Project number:** 5R01CA230514-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA
- **Principal Investigator:** Youping Deng
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $530,394
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-01 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10673061

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10673061, Circulating lipid and miRNA markers for early detection of breast cancer among women with abnormal mammograms (5R01CA230514-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10673061. Licensed CC0.

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