Use of Buffy Coat miRNA Profiling for Breast Cancer Prediction in Healthy Women

MicroRNAs are key regulators of different biological processes and their deregulation is associated with the occurrence of many diseases among which cancer. Due to the higher stability of microRNAs and to the easiness in their detection both in organs than in biological fluids, many studies are turned toward potential use of this small molecules as biomarkers for the prediction and diagnosis of different types of cancer. Here we describe the experiment protocol that we have used for microRNA profiling analysis in buffy coat samples of women who developed breast cancer versus women who remained healthy during a 20 year follow-up period, with the aim to identify predictive microRNAs of breast cancer occurrence.