Differential expression profiles of microRNAs as potential biomarkers for the early diagnosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most lethal malignancies worldwide. To reduce the high morbidity and mortality of the disease, sensitive and specific biomarkers for early detection are urgently needed. Tumor-specific microRNAs (miRNAs) seem to be potential biomarkers for the early diagnosis and treatment of cancer. In this study, differentially expressed miRNAs in tumor tissues and adjacent non-tumor tissues were detected by miRNA microarrays. Stem-loop real-time reverse transcription PCR was conducted to verify the candidate miRNAs discovered by microarray analysis. The data showed that hsa-miR-338-3p, hsa-miR‑218 and hsa-miR-139-5p were downregulated in tumor tissues compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues, while hsa-miR‑183, hsa-miR-574-5p, hsa-miR-21* and hsa-miR‑601 were upregulated in tumor tissues. Multiple regression analysis revealed the aberrant expression of hsa-miR-338-3p, hsa‑miR-139-5p, hsa-miR‑574-5p and hsa-miR-601 increased the risk of esophageal cancer. Furthermore, we found hsa-miR-21* was significantly increased in heavy drinking patients. Therefore, there is a set of differentially expressed miRNAs in esophageal cancer which may be associated with the incidence and development of ESCC. Differential expression profiles of miRNAs in ESCC may be promising biomarkers for the early screening of high-risk populations and early detection.

MicroRNA screening identifies circulating microRNAs as potential biomarkers for osteosarcoma

“…Another downregulated miRNA, miR-25, may function as a tumor suppressor that inhibits cell proliferation and migration by targeting Smad 7 in colon cancer (44) and EZH2 in anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (45). Finally, studies have suggested a tumor suppressor role for miR-139-5p, which is downregulated in various types of cancer, including endometrial serous adenocarcinoma (46), breast carcinoma (47), glioblastoma (48), bladder cancer (49), basal cell carcinoma (50) and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (51).…”

Characterization and effects of miR-21 expression in esophageal cancer

“…Abnormal expression of miRNAs in a variety of tumor cells is involved in cell differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis and is closely associated with tumor development, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis; thus, these miRNAs have clinical significance (Gramantieri et al, 2008;Selaru et al, 2009). Recent studies have found that miR-21 can enhance the radiosensitivity of esophageal cancer down TE-1 cells, and a number of studies have shown that miRNA expression is significantly associated with esophageal cancer prognosis (Hummel et al, 2011;Yang et al, 2013). In this study, we examined miR-21 expression in esophageal tissue and cultured cells and investigated the effects of miR-21 on apoptosis and invasion of esophageal cancer cells using cell transfection techniques.…”

Identification of miRNA profile and in-silico analysis of identified miRNA’s functions at different stages of Axolotl tail regeneration

“…Bu süreçte artan mir-8485 miktarının sinir sistemi farklılaşmasını baskıladığı düşünülebilir. mir-601'in hücre bölünmesini bir çok kanser türünde miktarının arttığı ve kanser dokularında biriktiği gösterilmiştir [38,39] . mir-548i görevleri tam anlaşılmayan miRNA'lardan olmakla beraber embriyonik kök hücrelerde tespit edilmiştir [40] .…”