microRNA expression profile in stage III colorectal cancer: Circulating miR-18a and miR-29a as promising biomarkers

Brunet Vega,Anna; Pericay,Carles; Moya,Irene; Ferrer,Anna; Dotor,Emma; Pisa,Aleydis; Casalots,Àlex; Serra-Aracil,Xavier; Oliva,Joan-Carles; Ruiz,Anna; Saigí,Eugeni

doi:10.3892/or.2013.2475

microRNA expression profile in stage III colorectal cancer: Circulating miR-18a and miR-29a as promising biomarkers

Authors:
- Anna Brunet Vega
- Carles Pericay
- Irene Moya
- Anna Ferrer
- Emma Dotor
- Aleydis Pisa
- Àlex Casalots
- Xavier Serra-Aracil
- Joan-Carles Oliva
- Anna Ruiz
- Eugeni Saigí
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Affiliations: Department of Oncology Research, Parc Taulí Foundation - University Institute UAB, Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí Hospital, Parc Taulí s/n, 08208 Sabadell, Spain, Oncology Service, Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí Hospital, Parc Taulí s/n, 08208 Sabadell, Spain, Genomics Unit, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), 08003 Barcelona, Spain, Department of Pathology, Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí Hospital, Parc Taulí s/n, 08208 Sabadell, Spain, Department of General and Digestive Surgery, Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí Hospital, Parc Taulí s/n, 08208 Sabadell, Spain, Statistical Unit, Parc Taulí Foundation - University Institute UAB, Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí Hospital, Parc Taulí s/n, 08208 Sabadell, Spain, Genetic Laboratory, UDIAT-CD, Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí Hospital, Parc Taulí s/n, 08208 Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain
Published online on: May 15, 2013 https://doi.org/10.3892/or.2013.2475
Pages: 320-326

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Abstract

Biomarkers that can facilitate disease detection, staging and prediction of outcome are highly desirable to improve survival and to help determine optimized treatment for colorectal cancer patients. microRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that play a crucial role in gene regulatory networks. The deregulation of miRNA expression has been found in several types of cancer and may represent a novel class of cancer biomarkers. Our aim was to determine the miRNA signature of stage III colorectal cancer (CRC) tumors and to identify potential circulating miRNAs that may represent non-invasive biomarkers in CRC patients. Genome-wide microarray analysis of miRNA expression was performed on 12 paired tumor and non-tumor formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues from stage III CRC patients. A selection of differentially overexpressed miRNAs was validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and determined in the serum of a set of 56 individuals (30 stage III CRC patients and 26 healthy individuals). Using 1.5-fold expression difference as a cut-off level, 43 miRNAs were identified as differentially expressed in tumor versus normal tissue. Using reverse transcription and qRT-PCR, 11 miRNAs (miR-135b, miR-141, miR-18a, miR-20a, miR-21, miR-224, miR-29a, miR-31, miR-34a, miR-92a and miR-96) were confirmed as significantly overexpressed in tumor samples when compared with normal samples. We were able to detect 9 of these 11 miRNAs in serum samples from CRC patients and healthy individuals. Serum levels of miR-18a and miR-29a were significantly higher in CRC patients when compared to levels in the controls (p<0.05). In conclusion, this study identified a substantial number of miRNAs which were differentially expressed in stage III colorectal tumors. Moreover, the findings provide relevant information concerning overexpressed tumoral miRNAs as potential circulating biomarkers and highlight serum miR-18a and miR-29a as promising biomarkers for the screening and monitoring of CRC patients.

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