Sahengbieke Sana, Wang Jian, Li Xiangwei, Wang Yuhong, Lai Maode, Wu Jingjing
Department of Pathology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
Department of Surgical Oncology, Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
J Clin Lab Anal. 2018 May;32(4):e22332. doi: 10.1002/jcla.22332. Epub 2017 Sep 26.
Detection of circulating cell-free mRNA serves as noninvasive tools for cancer diagnosis. As an oncofetal protein, HMGA2 (high mobility group AT-hook 2) is upregulated in colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues. However, it is not clear whether the increased levels of circulating cell-free HMGA2 mRNA functions as potential biomarkers for improved diagnosis of CRC.
To assess its clinical significance in diagnosis and prediction, we evaluated serum levels of circulating HMGA2 mRNA in CRC patients and in healthy controls. In this study, 83 CRC patients and 11 normal controls were enrolled in this study. We used real-time quantitative reverse transcription-PCR to evaluate the plasma mRNA levels of HMGA2 and analyze the correlation between their expression and clinicopathologic characteristics.
We found that the levels of HMGA2 mRNA were significantly higher in CRC patients compared with healthy volunteers. The patients with right-sided CRC, colon cancer, positive nerve infiltration, positive vascular invasion, negative microsatellite instability (MSI), and increasing in serum carbohydrate antigen (CA) 199 had higher levels of plasma HMGA2 mRNA. A strong positive correlation between circulating cell-free HMGA2 mRNA and CA199 level in serum was found in our study. Furthermore, statistical analysis revealed that levels of HMGA2 mRNA in plasma and in tumors were strictly correlated.
Collectively, our data suggested that cell-free HMGA2 mRNA in plasma might function as a novel diagnostic marker for CRC.
循环游离mRNA的检测作为癌症诊断的非侵入性工具。HMGA2（高迁移率族AT钩蛋白2）作为一种癌胚蛋白，在结直肠癌（CRC）组织中上调。然而，尚不清楚循环游离HMGA2 mRNA水平升高是否可作为改善CRC诊断的潜在生物标志物。
为评估其在诊断和预测中的临床意义，我们评估了CRC患者和健康对照者血清中循环HMGA2 mRNA的水平。本研究纳入了83例CRC患者和11例正常对照。我们使用实时定量逆转录PCR来评估HMGA2的血浆mRNA水平，并分析其表达与临床病理特征之间的相关性。
我们发现，与健康志愿者相比，CRC患者中HMGA2 mRNA水平显著更高。右侧CRC、结肠癌、神经浸润阳性、血管侵犯阳性、微卫星不稳定性（MSI）阴性以及血清糖类抗原（CA）199升高的患者血浆HMGA2 mRNA水平更高。我们的研究发现循环游离HMGA2 mRNA与血清CA199水平之间存在强正相关。此外, 统计分析显示血浆和肿瘤中HMGA2 mRNA水平密切相关。
总体而言，我们的数据表明血浆中游离HMGA2 mRNA可能作为CRC的一种新型诊断标志物。
