Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan.
J Hepatol. 2012 Jan;56(1):167-75. doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2011.04.026. Epub 2011 Jul 13.
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Several groups have reported the significance of circulating microRNA as a biochemical marker of cancer. To our knowledge, however, there are no reports on the significance of circulating microRNA in hepatocellular carcinoma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the significance of plasma microRNA-21 level as a biochemical marker for hepatocellular carcinoma.
Plasma microRNA-21 level was measured by qRT-PCR in 10 patients before and after curative resection of hepatocellular carcinoma. Plasma microRNA-21 was also compared in other groups of: 126 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, 30 patients with chronic hepatitis, and 50 healthy volunteers. The power of microRNA-21 in differentiating hepatocellular carcinoma from chronic hepatitis or from healthy volunteers was compared to that of α-fetoprotein.
In the 10-patient group, plasma microRNA-21 levels significantly diminished after surgery compared with the pre-operative values (p=0.0125). Plasma microRNA-21 level in the 126 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma was significantly higher than in patients with chronic hepatitis and healthy volunteers (p<0.0001, p<0.0001, respectively). ROC analysis of plasma microRNA-21 yielded an AUC of 0.773 with 61.1% sensitivity and 83.3% specificity when differentiating hepatocellular carcinoma from chronic hepatitis, and an AUC of 0.953 with 87.3% sensitivity and 92.0% specificity when differentiating hepatocellular carcinoma from healthy volunteers. Both sets of values were superior to α-fetoprotein and improved for the combination of microRNA-21 and α-fetoprotein.
Plasma microRNA-21 level is a promising biochemical marker for hepatocellular carcinoma.
有几个研究小组报告了循环 microRNA 作为癌症生化标志物的重要性。然而，据我们所知，目前尚无关于循环 microRNA 在肝细胞癌中的意义的报道。本研究旨在评估血浆 microRNA-21 水平作为肝细胞癌生化标志物的意义。
采用 qRT-PCR 法检测 10 例经根治性切除术治疗的肝细胞癌患者术前和术后血浆 microRNA-21 水平。还比较了其他组的血浆 microRNA-21：126 例肝细胞癌患者、30 例慢性肝炎患者和 50 例健康志愿者。比较了 microRNA-21 与甲胎蛋白在区分肝细胞癌与慢性肝炎或健康志愿者方面的能力。
在 10 例患者组中，与术前值相比，手术后血浆 microRNA-21 水平显著降低（p=0.0125）。126 例肝细胞癌患者的血浆 microRNA-21 水平明显高于慢性肝炎患者和健康志愿者（p<0.0001，p<0.0001）。ROC 分析显示，当区分肝细胞癌与慢性肝炎时，血浆 microRNA-21 的 AUC 为 0.773，灵敏度为 61.1%，特异性为 83.3%；当区分肝细胞癌与健康志愿者时，AUC 为 0.953，灵敏度为 87.3%，特异性为 92.0%。这两组值均优于甲胎蛋白，且 microRNA-21 和甲胎蛋白联合使用时效果更好。
血浆 microRNA-21 水平是肝细胞癌有前途的生化标志物。
