Circulating plasma microRNA signature for the diagnosis of cervical cancer

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Ma, Ge^{a; 1} | Song, Guoxin^{b; 1} | Zou, Xuan^c | Shan, Xia^{d; e} | Liu, Qingxie^d | Xia, Tiansong^{a; *} | Zhou, Xin^{d; *} | Zhu, Wei^{d; f; *}

Affiliations: [a] Breast Disease Center, The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China | [b] Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China | [c] First Clinical College of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China | [d] Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China | [e] Department of Respiration, The Affiliated Jiangning Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China | [f] Department of Oncology, The Affiliated Jiangsu Shengze Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Wujiang, Jiangsu, China

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding authors: Wei Zhu, The Affiliated Jiangsu Shengze Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Wujiang, Jiangsu 215000, China; E-mail: zhuwei@njmu.edu.cn; Tiansong Xia, The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical %****␣cbm-26-cbm190256_temp.tex␣Line␣100␣**** University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China. E-mail: xiatsswms@163.com; Xin Zhou, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China. E-mail: ivorchou@yeah.net.

Note: [1] Contributed equally.

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To determine the utility of plasma microRNAs (miRNAs) as biomarkers in cervical cancer (CC). METHODS: Some studies were conducted about the specific expression of plasma miRNAs in the diagnosis of CC. Plasma samples of 97 CC patients and 87 normal controls (NCs) were used to identify dysregulation of miRNAs in the training, testing, and external validation phases. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and area under the ROC curve (AUC) were used to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of identified individual miRNAs and miRNA panels for the diagnosis of CC. Expression levels of specific miRNAs were also examined in plasma exosomes and tissue samples of CC patients. RESULTS: Four plasma miRNAs (miR-146a-5p, miR-151a-3p, miR-2110 and miR-21-5p) which showed up-regulation were identified and validated in CC patients. A panel of the four miRNAs were constructed as potential diagnostic markers for CC. The AUCs of the panel of these four-miRNAs for the training, testing, and external validation phases were 0.911, 0.774, and 0.786, respectively. miR-146a-5p and miR-21-5p levels were all up-regulated in CC tissue specimens, whereas miR-146a-5p, miR-151a-3p, and miR-2110 levels were up-regulated in plasma exosomes. CONCLUSION: The signature of the four-miRNAs identified in peripheral plasma is a promising novel biomarker for the diagnosis of CC.

Keywords: Plasma microRNA, cervical cancer, diagnosis, exosome, qRT-PCR

DOI: 10.3233/CBM-190256

Journal: Cancer Biomarkers, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 491-500, 2019