Research Center of Clinical Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, China.
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, China.
Sci Rep. 2024 Nov 21;14(1):28834. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-80592-y.
Accumulating evidence has shown that tRNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs) play crucial roles in malignant tumor development. However, whether serum tsRNAs can act as potential biological markers for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are still largely unknown. In the current study, a novel tsRNA, namely tsRNA-Thr-5-0015, was prominently elevated in the sera of HCC patients than that of hepatitis cases and healthy check-ups, and it was related with TNM stage and lymphatic metastasis of HCC patients. Moreover, methodological evaluation confirmed that tsRNA-Thr-5-0015 had excellent stability, precision, accuracy and linear range. Additionally, the combined detection of serum tsRNA-Thr-5-0015 with AFP as well as PIVKA-II improved the diagnostic sensitivity for HCC. Furthermore, dynamic monitoring found that the serum tsRNA-Thr-5-0015 was drastically decreased in the postoperative HCC patients. Besides, Kaplan-Meier analysis displayed that patients with high level of serum tsRNA-Thr-5-0015 had shorter overall survival than that of the low level ones. In addition, bioinformatic prediction unveiled that the downstream targets of tsRNA-Thr-5-0015 were enriched in several signaling pathways, such as MAPK, PI3K-Akt, etc. In summary, tsRNA-Thr-5-0015 may be a promising biomarker for HCC diagnosis, therapeutic effect assessment and prognosis judgement. Especially, the combination with serum tsRNA-Thr-5-0015, AFP and PIVKA-II can enhance the diagnostic efficiency for HCC.
越来越多的证据表明，tRNA 衍生的小 RNA（tsRNA）在恶性肿瘤的发展中发挥着关键作用。然而，血清 tsRNA 是否可以作为肝细胞癌（HCC）的潜在生物标志物，目前还知之甚少。在本研究中，一种新型的 tsRNA，即 tsRNA-Thr-5-0015，在 HCC 患者的血清中显著升高，高于肝炎病例和健康检查，并且与 HCC 患者的 TNM 分期和淋巴转移有关。此外，方法学评估证实 tsRNA-Thr-5-0015 具有良好的稳定性、精密度、准确性和线性范围。此外，血清 tsRNA-Thr-5-0015 与 AFP 和 PIVKA-II 联合检测可提高 HCC 的诊断敏感性。此外，动态监测发现术后 HCC 患者血清 tsRNA-Thr-5-0015 明显降低。此外，Kaplan-Meier 分析显示，血清 tsRNA-Thr-5-0015 水平较高的患者总生存期短于水平较低的患者。此外，生物信息学预测显示，tsRNA-Thr-5-0015 的下游靶标富集在几个信号通路中，如 MAPK、PI3K-Akt 等。总之，tsRNA-Thr-5-0015 可能是 HCC 诊断、疗效评估和预后判断的有前途的生物标志物。特别是，与血清 tsRNA-Thr-5-0015、AFP 和 PIVKA-II 联合使用可以提高 HCC 的诊断效率。
