In silico Identification of microRNAs Differentially Expressed in Prostate Cancer and Related to Tumor Aggressiveness

Background: Prostate cancer (PCa) remains a major clinical challenge due to the limited ability of current diagnostic tools to distinguish indolent from aggressive tumors. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as promising biomarkers given their stability, tissue specificity, and regulatory roles in carcinogenesis. This study analyzed miRNA expression and clinical data from The Cancer Genome Atlas–Prostate Adenocarcinoma (TCGA-PRAD) to identify differentially expressed miRNAs and evaluate their association with tumor aggressiveness. Methods: miRNA expression profiles and clinical variables from TCGA-PRAD were examined. A total of 550 samples (498 tumors, 52 adjacent normal) and 1,881 miRNAs were analyzed using the differential expression sequencing 2 workflow. Differential expression was assessed using adjusted significance thresholds. Highly deregulated miRNAs were identified based on log2 fold change ≥2 and false discovery rate (FDR)