Affiliations: [a] Oncology Center, Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China | [b] Institute of Genetic Engineering, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China | [c] Department of Oncology, Anyang Cancer Hospital, Anyang, Henan, China
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Yanfang Zheng, Oncology Center, Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510282, Guangdong, China. E-mail: 18665000236@163.com
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Several studies demonstrated that microRNAs are stably
detectable in plasma/serum and are potential biomarkers for some diseases.
The expression of microRNA-218 (miR-218) is downregulated in esophageal
cancer as reported in previous research. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to investigate whether
miR-218 can be served as a serum biomarker for esophageal cancer. METHODS: We tested the expression level of miR-218 in serum of 106
patients with esophageal cancer and 60 healthy volunteers by RT-PCR and
analyzed the relationship between serum miR-218 expression and the clinical
characteristics. RESULTS: The serum expression of miR-218 was significantly lower in
patients with esophageal cancer than that in healthy individuals. The value
of the area under the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC)
was 0.833. Furthermore, the ROC curves to detect early esophageal cancer
with Tis-T1 or Stage 0-I showed AUCs of 0.825 and 0.829, respectively. In
the esophageal cancer group, the serum expression of miR-218 was found to be
lower in esophageal cancer patients with poorer differentiation, later
stage, and lymph node metastasis, highlighting that low serum expression of
miR-218 may be related to tumor development and progression in esophageal
cancer. CONCLUSIONS: The serum expression of miR-218 is downregulated in
esophageal cancer patients and is correlated with tumor differentiation,
stage, and lymph node metastasis. Serum miR-218 may be a potential biomarker
for early detection and clinical evaluation in patient with esophageal
cancer.
Keywords: Esophageal cancer, microRNA, microRNA-218, serum biomarker, cancer detection
