Exosomal miR-34s panel as potential novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in patients with hepatoblastoma

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study is to identify the diagnostic values of serum exosomal miRNA-34s of patients with HB in a large Asian group and explore the prognostic value of the exosomal miRNA-34s panel compared with other risk factors.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 89 children with HB. Among these patients, 63 patients were included as training group to build the diagnostic model for HB. 26 patients were defined as the validation group. The expressions of miRNA-34s were detected by real-time PCR. The comparison of diagnostic and prognostic performance of serum exosomal miRNA-34s was measured using the area under ROC curve (AUC).

Results: For patients in the training group, expression of miRNA-34a, miRNA-34b and miRNA-34c was significantly lower in patients with HB compared with control group in serum exosomes. Between HB training group and the control group, exosomal miRNA-34a, miRNA-34b and miRNA-34c had no significant differences compared with the AFP level in diagnosing HB. The performance of the exosomal miRNA-34s panel in differentiating the HB training group from the control group was superior to the AFP level. The value of the exosomal miRNA-34s panel in predicting prognosis of patients with HB was superior to other risk factors in both training group and validation group.

Conclusions: In this study, we found that the expression of exosomal miRNA-34a, miRNA-34b and miRNA-34c was significantly lower in patients with HB compared with the control group, and we confirmed the exosomal miRNA-34s panel could be defined as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for patients with HB.

Level of evidence: Level II.

Type of study: Retrospective Study.

Keywords: Exosome; Hepatoblastoma; miR-34s.