TY - JOUR AB - Exosomal microRNAs (miRs/miRNAs) have been reported to be associated with cervical cancer. The aim of the present study was to investigate circulating exosomal miRNA as a biomarker for cervical cancer diagnosis. In the present study, samples from 6 patients with cervical cancer and 6 healthy control subjects were retrieved for exosomal RNA‑sequencing. The results revealed that a total of 39 miRNAs were differentially expressed between patients with cervical cancer and healthy controls (P<0.001; fold‑change >2.0). Exosomal miR‑125a‑5p was further quantified in plasma from 60 subjects, which included 22 healthy individuals and 38 patients with cervical cancer. miR‑16a‑5p served as the reference miRNA for quantitative PCR analysis of exosomal miR‑125a‑5p in patients with cervical cancer and healthy individuals. The results revealed that exosomal miR‑125a‑5p expression levels in the patients with cervical cancer were significantly lower than those in the healthy controls (P<0.001). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were performed and the results revealed that the level of plasma exosomal miR‑125a‑5p was a potential marker for differentiating between non‑cervical cancer and cervical cancer, with an ROC area under the curve of 0.7129. At the cut‑off value of 2.537 for miR‑125a‑5p, cervical cancer diagnostic sensitivities and specificities were 59.1 and 84.2%, respectively. The present study provides confirmation that exosomal miR‑125a‑5p could potentially serve as a biomarker for cervical cancer diagnosis. The present study involved only a small number of clinical samples; more samples are required to support the conclusions of the present study. AD - Reproductive Center, The 940th Hospital of Joint Logistics Support Force of Chinese People's Liberation Army, Lanzhou, Gansu 730050, P.R. China Reproductive Center, The First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi 030001, P.R. China Reproductive Medicine Center, Hainan Maternal and Children's Medical Center, Haikou, Hainan 570206, P.R. China Reproductive Medicine Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Haikou, Hainan 570102, P.R. China AU - Lv,Aixia AU - Tu,Zengrong AU - Huang,Yunhua AU - Lu,Weiying AU - Xie,Baoguo DA - 2021/01/01 DO - 10.3892/ol.2020.12316 IS - 1 JO - Oncol Lett KW - exosomes microRNA‑125a‑5p cervical cancer diagnostic marker PY - 2021 SN - 1792-1074 1792-1082 SP - 54 ST - Circulating exosomal miR‑125a‑5p as a novel biomarker for cervical cancer T2 - Oncology Letters TI - Circulating exosomal miR‑125a‑5p as a novel biomarker for cervical cancer UR - https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2020.12316 VL - 21 ER -