Diagnostic and predictive significance of serum microRNA-7 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Dong,Wei; Li,Baosheng; Wang,Juan; Song,Yipeng; Zhang,Zicheng; Fu,Chengrui; Zhang,Peiliang

doi:10.3892/or.2015.4499

Diagnostic and predictive significance of serum microRNA-7 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Authors:
- Wei Dong
- Baosheng Li
- Juan Wang
- Yipeng Song
- Zicheng Zhang
- Chengrui Fu
- Peiliang Zhang
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Affiliations: School of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250012, P.R. China, Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital, Jinan, Shandong 250117, P.R. China, Department of Radiation Oncology, Yuhuangding Hospital, Yantai, Shandong 264000, P.R. China, Department of Radiation Oncology, Yishui Central Hospital, Yishui, Shandong 276400, P.R. China
Published online on: December 21, 2015 https://doi.org/10.3892/or.2015.4499
Pages: 1449-1456

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Abstract

MicroRNA-7 has been reported to participate in tumorigenesis and progression by several signaling pathways in various tumors. However, its potential as a serum diagnostic factor and predictive biomarker for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) has not been studied. Serum samples were collected from 105 pathologically proven ESCC patients and 30 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. All patients were treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Real‑time polymerase chain reaction was carried out to measure the serum miR-7 expression level. The data were compared among radio-sensitive and radio-resistant groups, and healthy volunteers to elucidate the diagnostic and predictive value of miR-7 expression. Finally, in vitro experiments are used to clarify the mechanisms of the miR-7. In the present study, we found that the serum miR-7 level of ESCC patients was 4.74-fold lower as compared with healthy subjects, indicating that serum miR-7 expression could be an excellent diagnostic factor. The serum miR-7 expression level for these responsive patients was 2.34‑fold higher than that for non-responsive patients, indicating it as a valuable biomarker for predicting treatment response of ESCC patients to concurrent chemoradiation treatment. We also found that miR-7 levels are strongly correlated with tumor length and the status of lymph node metastasis (P<0.05). In contrast, the responsiveness of therapy is significantly correlated with CEA (P<0.05), Cyfra21-1 (P<0.05), serum miR-7 level (P<0.05) and myelosuppression (P<0.01). In addition, the experimental data also suggest that miR-7 can interfere with EGFR mRNA translation. In ESCC patients, serum miR-7 has the potential to serve as a noninvasive biomarker of diagnosis and predicting treatment responses to concurrent chemoradiation therapy. ESCC patients with lower Cyfra21-1 and CEA, higher miR-7 and severe myelosuppression were much more sensitive to CRT. In addition, miR-7 may function by interfering with EGFR mRNA translation, but not degradation.

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