The circulating miRNA-34a, miRNA -143 and miRNA -212 are promising biomarkers in ovarian cancer

Abstract

Objective: Ovarian cancer is one of the most common gynaecological malignancies among females worldwide. Early diagnostic of ovarian cancer is challenging, and miRNAs could serve as a potential biomarker for early detection of ovarian cancer regarding easy to detect. The present study investigated the expression profile of miRNA-34a, miRNA-143, miRNA-212, Sox4, BCL-2, and E2f5 in the serum of participants to find new biomarkers for early diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Materials and Methods: Five milliliters of whole blood were collected from each patient (n=30) and control (n=30), and total RNA was extracted using Ambion™ TRIzol™ Reagent. Real-time PCR methods evaluated the expression of targeted miRNAs and their targeted genes. Result: The Disease status of all ovarian cancer patients were classified as FIGO stage III (21) and (IV 9) according to imaging studies and surgical pathological findings. Our results showed that expression levels of miRNA-34a (p<0.0001), miRNA-143 (p=0.028), and miRNA-212 (p<0.0001) were significantly decreased in patients with ovarian cancer compared to controls and expression levels of Sox4(p<0.0001), BCL-2(p<0.0001) and E2f5(p<0.0001) were significantly increased in patients with ovarian cancer compared to controls. In addition, Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve revealed that the expression profile of miRNA-34a (AUC= 0.82; P <0.0001), miRNA-143 (AUC= 0.66; P = 0.026) and miRNA-212 (AUC= 0.78; P = 0.0001) could be used as potential biomarker for discriminating patients with ovarian cancer. Conclusion: In conclusion, our data showed that the expression profile of miRNA-34a, miRNA-143, and miRNA-212 could act as a potential biomarker for diagnosing ovarian cancer patients.