Abstract
BackgroundRecent studies reported that blood-based microRNAs (miRNAs) could detect cancers and predict prognosis have opened a new field of utilizing circulating miRNAs as cancer biomarkers. In this pilot study, we conducted for the first time, to our knowledge, the evaluation of the applicability of salivary miRNAs as novel biomarkers for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) detection.MethodsMicroarray miRNA expression profiling was performed on saliva samples from 22 newly diagnosed NPC patients and 25 healthy controls, and 12 significantly down-regulated miRNAs were selected for quantitative real-time-PCR (qRT-PCR) validation and further analysis. Their target genes enriched by gene ontology and pathway analysis were used to construct regulatory and interaction networks. The receiver operating characteristic analyses (ROC) and logistic regression were calculated to assess discriminatory accuracy.ResultsTwelve dysregulated miRNAs screened by microarray that showed the same expression patterns with qRT-PCR analysis. Through bioinformatics analysis, the most prominent hub gene probably regulated by the 12 down-regulated miRNAs is found to be TP53. The ROC including the 12 miRNAs separated NPC patients from healthy controls with very high accuracy (areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC] = 0.999, sensitivity = 100.00%, specificity = 96.00%). Furthermore, if only six significantly dysregulated miRNAs were selected for the ROC analysis, the accuracy is still impressive (AUC = 0.941, sensitivity = 95.45%, specificity = 80.00%).ConclusionsThis study highlights the potential for salivary miRNAs as biomarkers for the detection of NPC. Meanwhile, differentially expressed miRNAs in saliva might play critical roles in NPC by regulating their target genes, which associated with some significant pathways, such as p53 signaling pathway.
Highlights
Recent studies reported that blood-based microRNAs could detect cancers and predict prognosis have opened a new field of utilizing circulating miRNAs as cancer biomarkers
MiRNA expression in the saliva of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients has not yet been reported. We presented in this pilot study, to our knowledge for the first time, the evaluation of the potential of a salivary miRNA panel as non-invasive diagnostic NPC biomarkers
Fifty-one miRNAs were aberrantly expressed in NPC saliva samples relative to healthy controls (Fig. 1)
Summary
Recent studies reported that blood-based microRNAs (miRNAs) could detect cancers and predict prognosis have opened a new field of utilizing circulating miRNAs as cancer biomarkers. In this pilot study, we conducted for the first time, to our knowledge, the evaluation of the applicability of salivary miRNAs as novel biomarkers for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) detection. Wu et al BMC Cancer (2019) 19:843 diagnosis and prognosis have been reported, including EBV DNA, circulating microRNAs (miRNAs), cytokines and methylated genes [3,4,5,6] Detection of these molecules generally depends on invasive sample collection such as fresh or formalin fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue, plasma or serum, which causes discomfort to patients. Saliva molecules may be used to detect human systemic disease, especially the diseases of tissues near the salivary gland
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