Plasma microRNA-19a as a Potential Biomarker for Esophageal Squamous cell Carcinoma Diagnosis and Prognosis

Abstract

Aim:To investigate whether plasma miR-19a can serve as a biomarker for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) diagnosis and prognosis. Materials & methods: Plasma samples from 89 ESCC, 45 benign lesion patients and 80 healthy controls were subjected to RT-qPCR analyses for miR-19a. In addition, plasma samples from 30 patients were collected before and after surgery for the same analyses. Results: Plasma miR-19a was significantly increased in ESCC patients compared with healthy controls. The sensitivity of miR-19a for early stages of ESCC was 68.09%. Combination of miR-19a and cytokeratin 19 fragment 21-1 (Cyfra21-1) further improved the sensitivity to 78.70%. Moreover, plasma miR-19a level was decreased in patients after surgery. Conclusion: Plasma miR-19a may serve as a potential biomarker that complements Cyfra21-1 in detecting early stages of ESCC. Esophageal cancer (EC) is one of the leading aggressive malignancies worldwide and is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in China [1]. The incidence of high-risk EC in China even exceeds 130 per 100,000 individuals [2,3]. The major pathological type of EC is esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), which has been most frequently identified in Northern Iran and NorthCentral China [4]. Although there has been significant improvement in diagnosis and treatment, the overall 5-year survival rate remains only about 25-30% for patients who receive curative surgery [5,6], while the rate dropped to 13% for patients with lymph node meta stasis [7]. Early detection is critical for improving outcomes and reducing mortality of ESCC patients.Although biopsy and imaging examination have improved the detection rate of ESCC, these methods are invasive or require radiation, greatly limiting their applications [8,9].Currently, traditional tumor markers, such as cytokeratin 19 fragment (Cyfra) 21-1 and squamous cell carcinoma antigen, are used to diagnose and evaluate ESCC progression. However, they both exhibit a low sensitivity. Yamamoto reported that the sensitivity of Cyfra21-1 for the diagnosis of ESCC was only 47.9% [10]. Mealy showed that the sensitivity of squamous cell carcinoma antigen was about 32% [11]. The absence of sufficiently sensitive biomarkers limits early diagnosis. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify novel, easy-to-assay biomarkers for early diagnosis and prognosis of ESCC to improve outcomes and reduce mortality of ESCC patients. miRNAs are small noncoding RNAs of 21-25 nucleotides in length that negatively regulate target genes [12] and play important roles in a wide range of physiological and pathological processes [13,14] Research Article Bai, Lin, Fang et al. are frequently located in cancer-associated genomic regions or in fragile sites, indicating that the potential great roles in tumorigenesis [15]. Since their discovery in 1993, emerging evidence shows that altered abundances of miRNAs are associated with cancer, such as ESCC [16][17][18], liver cancer [19][20][21] and breast cancer [22][23][24]. miRNAs are detectable in...

Autophagy modulators for the treatment of oral and esophageal squamous cell carcinomas

“…A combination of miR‐19a and cytokeratin fragment 21‐1 (Cyfra21‐1) further improved the diagnostic profile. Moreover, plasma miR‐19a was anticipated as a potential biomarker that complements Cyfra21‐1 in early‐stage detection, cancer screening, monitoring, postoperative prognosis, and predicting the recurrence/metastasis after surgery in ESCC . The diagnostic potential of serum miR‐1297 in ESCC and its expression level was detected in patients with ESCC and HC by using qRT‐PCR, a combined RT‐PCR and quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) technique.…”

Research progress on the relationship between zinc deficiency, related microRNAs, and esophageal carcinoma

“…Previous studies have shown that miRNA dysregulation is involved in the development of EC and that miRNAs act as both oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. [16][17][18] He et al divided human EC cell lines KYSE170 and ECA109 into two groups: one cultured in RPMI 1640 medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) and the other in RPMI 1640 medium containing 10% FBS plus 50 μM/L ZnSO 4 . The miRNA levels in the two cell lines were then measured to analyze the influence of the Zn level on the miRNAs.…”

“…Micro‐RNAs (miRNAs, miRs) are non‐coding RNAs approximately 18–22 nucleotides in length that post‐transcriptionally regulate gene expression by base‐pairing to partially complementary sequences in the 3′‐untranslated region (UTR) of their target messenger RNA (mRNA). Previous studies have shown that miRNA dysregulation is involved in the development of EC and that miRNAs act as both oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes …”

microRNA‑144 inhibits cell proliferation and invasion by directly targeting TIGAR in esophageal carcinoma

“…Esophageal cancer (EC) is one of the most malignant types of tumor in humans (1)(2)(3)(4). As the eighth most common type of cancer worldwide, the yearly estimated number of new EC cases in the USA alone is >16,000, with an estimated >150,000 cases of EC-associated mortality each year (1)(2)(3)(4). Histologically, as the two major subtypes of EC, esophageal adenocarcinoma and esophageal squamous carcinoma (ESCC) represent ~90% of all EC cases (1,(5)(6)(7).…”

“…As the eighth most common type of cancer worldwide, the yearly estimated number of new EC cases in the USA alone is >16,000, with an estimated >150,000 cases of EC-associated mortality each year (1)(2)(3)(4). Histologically, as the two major subtypes of EC, esophageal adenocarcinoma and esophageal squamous carcinoma (ESCC) represent ~90% of all EC cases (1,(5)(6)(7). Among them, ESCC is the most dominant subtype in developing countries, including China (8,9).…”