Background
Tumor‐associated miRNAs have been detected in serum or plasma. We investigated whether plasma miRNA‐199a‐3p could be a potential circulating biomarker for early gastric cancer (EGC).
Methods
By using real‐time qRT‐PCR, the expression of miRNA‐199a‐3p were compared between these pre‐operative plasmas from 30 EGC patients and 70 healthy controls, and between these pre‐operative and post‐operative plasmas. Further validation was on an independent set of plasmas from 50 EGC patients.
Results
The expression of miRNA‐199a‐3p (47.5 ± 6.5) in plasma in EGC patients was significantly higher than that from healthy controls (13.9 ± 2.7, P < 0.001) and gastric precancerous diseases (GPD) patients (19.2 ± 2.5, P = 0.004), respectively. Furthermore, the expression levels of miRNA‐199a‐3p (11.8 ± 2.9, P = 0.012) in the post‐operative plasmas were significantly reduced when compared to the pre‐operative plasmas. With respect of clinicopathological characteristics, the expression of miRNA‐199a‐3p in plasma was not associated with the depth of tumor invasion. Moreover, the AUC of the expression of miRNA‐199a‐3p in plasma for EGC diagnosis was 0.818, which was significantly higher than that of combined tumor markers (0.556). The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of miRNA‐199a‐3p expression in plasma for EGC diagnosis were 76%, 74%, and 75%, respectively.
Conclusions
Plasma miRNA‐199a‐3p could be a novel potential diagnostic biomarkers for EGC. J. Surg. Oncol. 2013; 108:89–92. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.