Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing, China.
J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2012;75(18):1154-62. doi: 10.1080/15287394.2012.699856.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are postulated to play important roles in oncogenesis. Recently, extracellular miRNAs were detected in plasma or serum of diseased subjects. However, the role of circulating miRNAs in plasma/serum remains to be elucidated. In this study, the relative expressions of miR-155, miR-183, and miR-20a in esophageal tissue were found to be significantly associated with increased risk for esophageal cancer. The relative expressions of circulating miR-155 and miR-183 were significantly reduced in cancer patients. Circulating miR-155 showed significantly higher risk for esophageal cancer when adjusted by smoking status and alcohol use. Circulating miR-155 was found to have significant diagnostic value for esophageal cancer as evidenced by a receiver operating characteristic curve area of 66%. However, Pearson analysis showed no statistical correlation in the relative miRNAs expression between plasma and esophageal tissues, which suggested different origins of circulating miRNAs distinct from tumor cell miRNAs. In conclusion, results suggest that circulating miR-155 in plasma may serve as a reliable, novel, noninvasive biomarker for early diagnosis and detection of esophageal cancer.
微 RNA（miRNA）被认为在肿瘤发生中发挥重要作用。最近，在患病患者的血浆或血清中检测到了细胞外 miRNA。然而，循环 miRNA 在血浆/血清中的作用仍有待阐明。在这项研究中，发现食管组织中 miR-155、miR-183 和 miR-20a 的相对表达与食管癌的风险增加显著相关。癌症患者的循环 miR-155 和 miR-183 的相对表达明显降低。循环 miR-155 在调整吸烟状况和饮酒使用后，显示出对食管癌的显著更高风险。循环 miR-155 的受试者工作特征曲线面积为 66%，表明其对食管癌具有显著的诊断价值。然而，Pearson 分析显示，血浆和食管组织中相对 miRNA 表达之间没有统计学相关性，这表明循环 miRNA 来自不同于肿瘤细胞 miRNA 的不同来源。总之，结果表明，血浆中的循环 miR-155 可能作为食管癌早期诊断和检测的可靠、新型、非侵入性生物标志物。
