Affiliations: Chemotherapy Department, Cancer Center, the University
of Sun Yat-Sen, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China | State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China,
Guangzhou, Guangdong, China | The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou
University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China | Cancer Research Center, Guangdong Medical College,
Dongguan, China
Abstract: Extra-nodal natural killer T-Cell (NK/T-cell) lymphoma is a
progressive cancer with poor prognosis due to the lack of disease specific
treatment. To develop specific therapeutic strategies, it is essential to
identify tumor markers. Recent studies show that circulating microRNA (miRNA)
may serve as diagnostic and/or prognostic markers for some diseases. To explore
miRNAs as potential diagnostic and/or prognostic markers of NK/T-cell lymphoma,
in our study, we compared circulating miR-221 levels in 79 patients and 37
normal subjects by real-time PCR amplification directly from plasma samples,
and correlated patient's miR-221 levels with their clinic features and
treatment outcomes. We observed a significant difference between the patient
and control groups (p=0.038), and a correlation of plasma
miR-221 level in patient with sex, as well as a reverse correlation with
performance status and the overall survival after treatment. Univariate and
multivariate analyses further revealed that plasma miR-221 level, age, B
symptoms, LDH level and complete response after primary treatment all present
prognostic values when judged by overall survival (OS). Together, our results
show that it is feasible to perform direct amplification of plasma miRNAs
without total RNA extraction, and plasma miR-221 may be a diagnostic and
prognostic marker for NK/T-cell lymphoma.
