Clinically Significant Dysregulation of and Expression in Patients with Surgically Resected Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

BACKGROUND

The cyclin E2 (CYCE2) is an important regulator in the progression and development of NSCLC, and its ectopic expression promoted the proliferation, invasion, and migration in several tumors, including Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). However, the upregulation of CYCE2 in NSCLC cells suggested that it has a key role in tumorigenicity. In addition, the RAS family proteins as oncoproteins were activated in many major tumor types and its suitability as the therapeutic target in NSCLC was proposed. Considering the crucial role of microRNAs, it was hypothesized that altered expression of and might provide a reliable diagnostic tumor marker for diagnosis of NSCLC.

METHOD

Real-time RT-PCR approach could evaluate the expression alteration of and and it was related to the surgically resected tissue of 24 lung cancer patients and 10 non-cancerous patients. The miRNAs expression was associated with clinicopathological features of the patients.

RESULTS

showed a significant downregulation (p=0.0382) in resected tissue of NSCLC patients compared with control group. Its expression level could differentiate different stages of malignancies from each other. The ROC curve analysis gave it an AUC=0.73 (p=0.037) which was a good score as a reliable biomarker. In contrast, was significantly overexpressed in tumor samples (p=0.03). Interestingly, our findings revealed a significant association of in adenocarcinoma tumors, compared to Squamous Cell Carcinomas (SCC) (p<0.05). Also, analysis of ROC curve of (AUC=0.74, p-value=0.042) suggests that it could be as a suitable biomarker for NSCLC.

CONCLUSION

Together, these results suggest a possible tumor suppressor role for in lung tumor progression and initiation. Moreover, upregulation of was associated with the tumor type.