Identification of microrna profiles in gastric carcinoma patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy or surgery alone

Abstract

Objective Several studies have shown that neoadjuvant chemotherapy conferred a survival advantage compared with surgery alone in gastric cancer (GC) patients. Nevertheless, objective clinical response is not achieved. Predictive novel molecules identification may be crucial for correct patient selection. This prompted us to identify miRNA expression profiles in gastric cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy or surgery alone compared with normal gastric tissue. Methods We studied 52 tumor biopsies collected before the neoadjuvant chemotherapy treatment from GC patients, 23 tumor tissues from gastrectomy alone patients, and 18 normal gastric tissue. The identification of differentially expressed miRNAs was done by TLDA quantitative real time PCR. Results 147 miRNAs were differentially expressed in comparative analyses between GC patients and control group. Furthermore, 119 miRNAs were differentially expressed in surgery alone patients when compared with those treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Among these miRNAs only two were down-regulated in surgery alone patients: miR-532-5p and miR-lOb. Up-regulated miRNAs included: miR-26b, miR-618, miR-494, miR-483-5p, miR-486-5p, miR-628-5p, and miR-520f. Conclusions We identified miRNA profile in GC patients when comparing with normal gastric tissue and treatments. This is a preliminary result; therefore, the association between our data and clinicopathological findings should manage to determine a predictable miRNA signature for GC therapy.