The Comprehensive Cancer Center of Drum Tower Hospital Affiliated to Medical School of Nanjing University & Clinical Cancer Institute of Nanjing University, Zhongshan Road 321#, Nanjing 2l0008, PR China.
BMC Cancer. 2010 Oct 28;10:591. doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-10-591.
Circulating cell-free microRNAs have been identified as potential cancer biomarkers. However, the existence and the potential application of cell-free miRNAs in effusion samples are still uncertain. In order to explore the potential role of cell-free miRNA in malignant effusions, we selected 22 miRNAs differentially expressed in the serum of lung cancer patients and studied their expression levels in body cavity effusion samples.
We measured the expression of 22 miRNAs using qRT-PCR in two samples, which were pooled with 18 malignant and 12 benign effusions, respectively. After discarding 9 lowly expressed miRNAs, a panel of 13 miRNAs were measured in 29 samples (benign n = 11, malignant n = 18). We also carried out a WST-8 test to evaluate the docetaxel sensitivity of tumor cells directly isolated from 15 malignant effusions.
We compared the miRNA expression levels between benign and malignant effusions using a Mann-Whitney U test and found miR-24, miR-26a and miR-30d were expressed differently between the two groups (P = 0.006, 0.021 and 0.011, respectively). Cells isolated from effusions rich in cell-free miR-152 were more sensitive to docetaxel (r = 0.60, P = 0.016).
Collectively, our study demonstrated that cell-free miRNAs in the supernatant of effusions may aid in the diagnosis of malignancy and predict chemosensitivity to docetaxel.
循环细胞游离 microRNAs 已被鉴定为潜在的癌症生物标志物。然而，细胞游离 miRNA 在渗出液样本中的存在及其潜在应用仍不确定。为了探讨细胞游离 miRNA 在恶性渗出液中的潜在作用，我们选择了 22 种在肺癌患者血清中差异表达的 miRNA，并研究了它们在体腔渗出液样本中的表达水平。
我们使用 qRT-PCR 测量了 22 种 miRNA 在两个样本中的表达，这两个样本分别与 18 种恶性和 12 种良性渗出液混合。剔除 9 种低表达 miRNA 后，在 29 个样本（良性 n = 11，恶性 n = 18）中测量了一组 13 个 miRNA。我们还进行了 WST-8 试验，以评估直接从 15 种恶性渗出液中分离的肿瘤细胞对多西紫杉醇的敏感性。
我们使用 Mann-Whitney U 检验比较了良性和恶性渗出液之间的 miRNA 表达水平，发现 miR-24、miR-26a 和 miR-30d 在两组之间的表达水平不同（P = 0.006、0.021 和 0.011）。富含细胞游离 miR-152 的渗出液中分离出的细胞对多西紫杉醇更敏感（r = 0.60，P = 0.016）。
总之，我们的研究表明，渗出液上清液中的细胞游离 miRNA 可能有助于恶性肿瘤的诊断，并预测对多西紫杉醇的化疗敏感性。
