Xu Qian, Dong Qi-Guan, Sun Li-Ping, He Cai-Yun, Yuan Yuan
Tumor Etiology and Screening Department of Cancer Institute and General Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, the Key Laboratory of Tumor Etiology and Prevention in Liaoning Province, Shenyang, Liaoning Province 110001, China.
The Department of Medical Oncology, the General Hospital of Fushun Mining Bureau, Fushun, Liaoning Province 113008, China.
BMC Clin Pathol. 2013 Mar 22;13:11. doi: 10.1186/1472-6890-13-11.
The identification of serial miRNAs targeting the same functional gastric protein could provide new and effective serological biomarkers for the diagnosis of gastric cancer (GC). The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of miR-20a-5p, let-7a and miR-320a in the diagnosis of AG or GC and the correlation of the three miRNAs with their predicted target molecules PGA, PGC and PGA/PGC ratio.
The total of 291 patients included 103 controls (CON), 94 with atrophic gastritis (AG) and 94 with GC. The levels of serum miRNAs were detected by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and serum pepsinogen A (PGA) and C (PGC) were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.
Serum miR-320a level decreased through the controls, AG and GC groups which were the cascades of GC development, while there were no significant differences in levels of miR-20a-5p and let-7a among the controls, AG and GC groups. When stratified by gender and age, serum miR-320a expression was lower in female GC patients than in controls (p = 0.035), especially in female GC patients older than 60 years (p = 0.008). For distinguishing female GC patients aged over 60, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for miR-320a was 0.699, and the best cut-off point was 4.76 with a sensitivity of 65.2% and specificity of 68.2%. Concerning the correlations between the selected miR-20a-5p, let-7a, miR-320a and PGs, we found that there were positive correlations between all the three and the ratio of PGA/PGC (r = 0.408, 0.255, 0.324; p = <0.001, 0.009, 0.001, respectively), but there was no relationship between the expression of serum miR-20a-5p and its predicted target PGA, or between let-7a and miR-320a and their predicted target PGC. Serum miR-320a was decreased and PGC was increased in the GC group compared with the control group.
Levels of serum miR-320a were lower in female GC patients older than 60 than in controls, which may provide a potential valuable marker for diagnosing older women with GC. The levels of serum miR-20a-5p, let-7a and miR-320a were positively correlated with PGA/PGC, which may indirectly reflect the functional status of the gastric mucosa.
鉴定靶向同一功能性胃蛋白的系列微小RNA（miRNA）可为胃癌（GC）诊断提供新的有效血清生物标志物。本研究旨在评估miR-20a-5p、let-7a和miR-320a在萎缩性胃炎（AG）或GC诊断中的潜力，以及这三种miRNA与其预测靶分子胃蛋白酶原A（PGA）、胃蛋白酶原C（PGC）和PGA/PGC比值的相关性。
291例患者包括103例对照（CON）、94例萎缩性胃炎（AG）患者和94例GC患者。采用定量逆转录-聚合酶链反应检测血清miRNA水平，采用酶联免疫吸附测定法测定血清胃蛋白酶原A（PGA）和C（PGC）。
血清miR-320a水平在作为GC发展级联的对照、AG和GC组中呈下降趋势，而miR-20a-5p和let-7a水平在对照、AG和GC组之间无显著差异。按性别和年龄分层时，女性GC患者血清miR-320a表达低于对照组（p = 0.035），尤其是60岁以上的女性GC患者（p = 0.008）。对于区分60岁以上的女性GC患者，miR-320a的受试者工作特征曲线下面积为0.699，最佳截断点为4.76，敏感性为65.2%，特异性为68.2%。关于所选的miR-20a-5p、let-7a、miR-320a与PGs之间的相关性，我们发现三者与PGA/PGC比值均呈正相关（r分别为0.408、0.255、0.324；p分别为<0.001、0.009、0.001），但血清miR-20a-5p表达与其预测靶标PGA之间、let-7a和miR-320a与其预测靶标PGC之间均无关联。与对照组相比，GC组血清miR-320a降低，PGC升高。
60岁以上女性GC患者血清miR-320a水平低于对照组，这可能为诊断老年女性GC提供一个潜在的有价值标志物。血清miR-20a-5p、let-7a和miR-320a水平与PGA/PGC呈正相关，这可能间接反映胃黏膜的功能状态。
