Mahmood Nosheen, Hanif Muhammad, Ahmed Akhtar, Jamal Qamar, Mushtaq Shamim, Khan Adnan, Saqib Muhammad
Dr. Nosheen Mahmood, MBBS, M.Phil, M.Phil Pathology, PhD Fellow. Department of Pathology, Ziauddin Medical University, Karachi, Pakistan.
Dr. Muhammad Hanif, PhD (Microbiology) Head of Department (Pr. Scientist) Clinical labs & Molecular Biology Lab, Karachi Institute of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine (KIRAN), Karachi, Pakistan.
Pak J Med Sci. 2019 Sep-Oct;35(5):1408-1412. doi: 10.12669/pjms.35.5.331.
BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: The high-throughput analysis of circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) is an active area of biomarker research. The oral cancer remains a common cancer among Pakistani males that continues to present at an advance stage, thus exhibiting poor survival. MiRNA 21 (miR-21) is the most consistently over-expressed miRNA in different types of tumor tissues. However, information regarding expression of miR-21 in plasma remains to be resolved. Therefore, present study was designed to investigate if miR-21 was expressed in plasma of patients with oral cancer, and further explore its diagnostic and prognostic potential.
Present study was conducted at Ziauddin University and Karachi Institute of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine (KIRAN). Histologically confirmed cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma were recruited from Oncology Department of Ziauddin Hospital between 2013 and 2017. Controls were carefully selected after considering age, gender and socioeconomic condition. MiRNA was extracted and immediately reverse transcribed to cDNA. MiR-21 expression was evaluated using probes specifically designed for Real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction.
A significant over expression of miRNA 21 was observed in histologically confirmed cases as compared to controls. The increased expression of miRNA 21 was also reported to be associated with tumor size, metastasis and local invasion (p<0.05).
The expression of circulating miR-21 in plasma samples of oral cancer patients makes it a promising diagnostic and prognostic marker.
循环微小RNA（miRNA）的高通量分析是生物标志物研究的一个活跃领域。口腔癌在巴基斯坦男性中仍然是一种常见癌症，且多在晚期出现，因此生存率较低。miRNA 21（miR-21）是在不同类型肿瘤组织中最持续过度表达的miRNA。然而，关于miR-21在血浆中的表达情况仍有待明确。因此，本研究旨在调查miR-21是否在口腔癌患者血浆中表达，并进一步探索其诊断和预后潜力。
本研究在齐亚乌丁大学和卡拉奇放射治疗与核医学研究所（KIRAN）进行。2013年至2017年间，从齐亚乌丁医院肿瘤科招募了经组织学确诊的口腔鳞状细胞癌病例。在考虑年龄、性别和社会经济状况后仔细挑选对照。提取miRNA并立即逆转录为cDNA。使用专门设计用于实时定量聚合酶链反应的探针评估miR-21的表达。
与对照相比，在组织学确诊病例中观察到miRNA 21明显过度表达。据报道，miRNA 21表达增加还与肿瘤大小、转移和局部侵袭有关（p<0.05）。
口腔癌患者血浆样本中循环miR-21的表达使其成为一个有前景的诊断和预后标志物。
