Potential diagnostic role of circulating MiRNAs in colorectal cancer

Abstract

Objectives: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common and fourth most deadly cancer worldwide despite its various screening method. Thus, the search for novel and better markers is continuous. This study aimed to assess the combined expression levels of miR-133a, miR-574-3p, and miR-27a in early diagnosis of colorectal cancer in comparison to traditional tumor markers (CEA and CA19.9).

Methods: miR-133a, miR-574-3p, and miR-27a were assessed in sera of 120 participants categorized into healthy control group (n = 20), benign group (n = 30) and malignant group (n = 70) using real-time PCR.

Results: miR-133a, miR-574-3p, and miR-27a expressions showed significant difference among different staging, grading and tumor size of CRC. The sensitivities of the three miRNAs whether combined or individually used were better than routinely used tumor markers (CEA and CA19.9) leading to more accurate and faster diagnosis of CRC.

Conclusion: Synergetic detection of miRNA-133a, miRNA-574-3p, and miRNA-27a may serve as better noninvasive biomarkers with higher combined sensitivity for early diagnosis of CRC than individual detection of miRNAs.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer; miR-133a; miR-574-3p; miR27a.

Figure 1.

Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for tumor marker (a) CA19.9 (b) CEA. The best cutoff values were 11.5 U/ml for CA19.9 and 5.5 ng/mL for CEA with AUC (95% CI) 0.736 (0.639–0.834) and 0.88 (0.814–0.946) for CA19.9 and CEA, respectively, at p < .05.

Figure 2.

Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for (a) miR-133a (b) miR-574-3p, (c) miR-27a. The best cutoff values were 36.5-, 46.5-, and 18.5-fold change for miR-133a, miR-574-3p, and miR-27a, respectively, with AUC (95% CI) 0.974 (0.948–1.000) for miR-133a, 0.975 (.948–1.000) for miR-574-3p and 0.904 (0.849–0.958) for miR-27a at p < .05.