The diagnostic effect of serum miR-196b as biomarker in colorectal cancer

Abstract

The microRNA, miR-196b, serves a role in normal cell differentiation, proliferation and tumorigenesis of different types of cancer. The aim of the present study was to explore the serum expression of miR-196b in colorectal cancer (CRC) and its correlation with clinicopathological features. Sera samples were obtained from 103 patients with CRC, 51 patients with colorectal adenoma (Ad) and 100 healthy individuals for the present study. The serum expression of miR-196b in sera samples of the three cohorts was detected using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The diagnostic value of miR-196b in the serum of the patients with CRC was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and survival analysis, using the Kaplan-Meier method, which was performed with the data from a 5-year follow-up. The expression of miR-196b in the serum of patients with CRC was significantly higher compared with that in Ad patients or healthy individuals (all P<0.001), and the overexpression of serum miR-196b was clearly associated with lymph node invasion, differentiation, and the tumor-lymph nodes-metastasis stage (all P<0.05). ROC curve analysis demonstrated that, comparing patients with CRC with healthy individuals, the area under the curve of serum miR-196b was 0.8135, and its specificity and sensitivity were 63 and 87.38%, respectively, at a diagnostic threshold of −4.785. Patients with CRC of miR-196b-high status had shorter overall survival and disease-free survival rates compared with those of miR-196b-low status. In conclusion, the results of the present study demonstrated that serum miR-196b is upregulated in CRC, and may have an application as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for patients with CRC.

Expression of specific microRNAs in tissue and plasma in colorectal cancer

“…Although they vary in expression levels, the miR-196 family of molecules is consistently overexpressed in oral cavity, esophageal, stomach, and intestinal cancer tissues [ 35 ]. Several investigations [ 36 – 38 ] support our findings that miR-196b expression levels in malignant tissues are significantly higher than in adjacent normal colorectal mucosa. MiR-196b-5p was also found to be elevated in serum exosomes of CRC and is associated with liver metastasis [ 35 ].…”

“…MiR-196b-5p was also found to be elevated in serum exosomes of CRC and is associated with liver metastasis [ 35 ]. MiR-196b-5p is also more upregulated in serum of patients with CRC compared to that in adenoma patients or healthy individuals [ 36 ]. A few reports have shown that the miR-196 family can also act as tumor suppressors.…”

microRNAs: Small molecules with a large impact on colorectal cancer

“…This correlation was also remarkable in TNM stage II CRC patients, showing that miR-21 expression may be a beneficial early stage biomarker to determine subjects at high risk of tumor invasion that have no evidence for metastasis disease. 43,44 Furthermore, several studies have revealed overexpression of miR-17-3p, 45 miR-92a, 46 miR-1290, 47 miR-210, 23 miR-183, 48 miR-885-5p, 49 miR-592, 50 miR-196b, 51 or miR-155 52 correlated with lower poor progression-free survival (PFS) or OS. It is considerable to mention that low-expressed miRNAs have also been correlated with a poor prognosis in CRC.…”

Circulating microRNAs as Promising Biomarkers in Colorectal Cancer

“…Interestingly, a significant correlation between plasma miR-221 level and p53 protein expression was found but the role of miR-221 in the regulation of p53 is nowadays unknown [54]. Further, several works have found high levels of miR-17-3p [55], miR-106a [55], miR-21 [56], miR-92a [57], miR-1290 [58], miR-210 [59], miR-183 [60], miR-885-5p [42], miR-592 [61], miR-196b [62] or miR-155 [63] associated with lower PFS or OS. More recently, serum miR-203 has been proposed as another promising prognostic and metastasis-predictive biomarker in CRC.…”