Altered miR-93-5p/miR-18a expression in serum for diagnosing non-small cell lung cancer.

OBJECTIVE

This research aimed at probing into miR-93-5p and miR-18a's diagnostic and prognostic values in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.

METHODS

A total of 107 patients diagnosed with NSCLC in the Department of Oncology and Thoracic Surgery of our hospital from January 2015 to June 2016 were regarded as the research group (RG), and 42 healthy people were considered as the control group (CG). Serum samples were collected and miR-93-5p, miR-18a expression was detected via qPCR. The relationship between miR-93-5p, miR-18a and clinicopathological characteristics of NSCLC patients was assessed, and the diagnostic value of the two miRNAs was analyzed by ROC curve.

RESULTS

miR-93-5p and miR-18a were up-regulated in NSCLC. The higher the degree of tumor differentiation, the higher the TNM stage and the expression of the two miRNAs were. The high expression was tied to tumor differentiation degree, TNM stage, lymph node metastasis and lymph-vascular space invasion (LVSI). The survival rate of miR-93-5p and miR-18a high expression patients was worse than that of those with low expression. The AUC value of both of the mRNAs in NSCLC diagnosis was high (0.8905).

CONCLUSION

The expression of miR-93-5p and miR-18a is associated with NSCLC severity and prognosis, and both can be used as potential markers for diagnosis.