Matei Mervat, Matei Sergiu-Ciprian, Dumitru Cristina Stefania, Popescu Roxana, Petrica Ligia, Golu Ioana, Cornianu Marioara, Stoian Isabella Ionela, Vlad Mihaela Maria
Department of Doctoral Studies, "Victor Babes" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Sq. No. 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania.
Abdominal Surgery and Phlebology Research Center, "Victor Babeș" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania.
Int J Mol Sci. 2025 Aug 5;26(15):7564. doi: 10.3390/ijms26157564.
Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy, and preoperative distinction between benign and malignant nodules remains challenging, especially in cytologically indeterminate cases. Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have gained interest as non-invasive biomarkers due to their stability and involvement in tumorigenesis. This study aimed to assess the preoperative diagnostic value of circulating miR-146a and miR-221 in patients undergoing thyroidectomy. A total of 56 patients were included, of whom 24 had malignant and 32 had benign thyroid lesions confirmed by histopathology. Preoperative plasma levels of miR-146a and miR-221 were quantified using qRT-PCR, and relative expression was calculated with the 2 method. miR-221 expression was significantly higher in malignant cases, with an area under the ROC curve of 1.00, achieving 100% sensitivity and specificity at the optimal threshold. miR-146a showed no significant discriminatory ability. Weak correlations were observed between miRNA expression and clinical parameters such as age, TIRADS score, or thyroid volume. Logistic regression including miR-221 led to perfect separation, indicating strong predictive capacity but precluding multivariate modeling. These findings suggest that circulating miR-221 may serve as a highly accurate biomarker for thyroid malignancy and warrant further validation in larger, prospective cohorts.
甲状腺癌是最常见的内分泌恶性肿瘤，术前区分良性和恶性结节仍然具有挑战性，尤其是在细胞学检查结果不确定的病例中。循环微RNA（miRNA）因其稳定性以及在肿瘤发生中的作用，作为非侵入性生物标志物受到关注。本研究旨在评估循环miR-146a和miR-221在接受甲状腺切除术患者中的术前诊断价值。共纳入56例患者，其中24例经组织病理学证实为恶性甲状腺病变，32例为良性甲状腺病变。采用qRT-PCR对术前血浆中miR-146a和miR-221的水平进行定量，并采用2−ΔΔCt法计算相对表达量。miR-221在恶性病例中的表达显著更高，ROC曲线下面积为1.00，在最佳阈值时灵敏度和特异度均达到100%。miR-146a未显示出显著的鉴别能力。在miRNA表达与年龄、TIRADS评分或甲状腺体积等临床参数之间观察到弱相关性。纳入miR-221的逻辑回归分析实现了完美分离，表明其具有很强的预测能力，但无法进行多变量建模。这些发现表明，循环miR-221可能是甲状腺恶性肿瘤的一种高度准确的生物标志物，值得在更大规模的前瞻性队列中进一步验证。
