The role of serum miRNA-30c in early diagnosis of gastric cancer

Abstract

Objective To test the value of miRNA-30c (miR-30c) in early diagnosis of gastric cancer. Methods Serum miR-30c expression levels were detected by using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in 80 patients with advanced gastric cancer, 35 patients with early stage gastric cancer and 35 healthy controls in the Affiliated People's Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University from August 2014 to August 2017. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and the area under the curve (AUC) were analyzed to test the efficacy of the miR-30c in distinguishing advanced gastric cancer, early stage gastric cancer and healthy controls. Results The expression level of serum miR-30c in advanced gastric cancer (0.45±0.11) was lower than that in early stage gastric cancer (0.54±0.15) (t = 5.2, P < 0.05). Compared with the healthy controls (0.61±0.12), miR-30c was down-expressed in the serum of early stage gastric cancer patients (t = 6.7, P < 0.05). Compared with the traditional tumor markers, the AUC of miR-30c was the biggest (0.92±0.03) in early stage and advanced gastric cancer groups, and the sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of gastric cancer were 90% and 84%, respectively. The AUC of miR-30c was 0.87±0.04 in early stage gastric cancer and healthy controls, and the sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of gastric cancer were 70% and 86%, respectively. Conclusion miR-30c might be used as a potential serum biomarker for the early diagnosis of gastric cancer. Key words: Stomach neoplasms; MicroRNAs; Early diagnosis