Altered Mir-223 Expression in Sputum for Diagnosis of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer



Bagheri A¹ ; Khorshid HRK¹ ; Mowla SJ² ; Mohebbi HA³ ; Mohammadian A⁴ ; Yaseri M⁵ ; Solaymanidodaran M⁶ ; Sherafatian M² ; Tavallaie M⁷
Source: Avicenna Journal of Medical Biotechnology Published:2017

Abstract

Background: Diagnosis of Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) at an early stage is a daunting challenge due to the deficiency of specific noninvasive markers. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in the initiation and progression of NSCLC. Measuring miRNA expression levels could provide a potential approach for the diagnosis of NSCLC. Our goals were to examine miR-223, miR-212, miR-192, miR-3074, SNORD33 and SNORD37 expression levels in tissue and sputum of NSCLC patients and cancer free subjects for molecular diagnosis of NSCLC. Methods: Relative expressions of miR-223, miR-212, miR-192, miR-3074, SNORD33 and SNORD37 were examined with quantitative real-time RT-PCR assay in tissue and sputum obtained from 17 NSCLC patients and 17 controls. Results: miR-3074 was upregulated in tissue samples of NSCLC patients compared with control group. miR-223 was upregulated, miR-212 and SNORD37 were downergulated in sputum samples of patients compared with controls. miR-223 quantification produced 82% sensitivity and 95% specificity with areas under the ROC curve at 0.90 in detection of NSCLC. Conclusion: miR-223 clearly discriminated cancer patients from cancer-free subjects and our results suggest that miR-223 could be a diagnostic useful biomarker. The measurement of altered miRNA expression in sputum samples manifested the potential noninvasive approach for detection of lung cancer. © 2017, Avicenna Journal of Medical Biotechnology. All rights reserved.