Circulating exosomal miR‑125a‑5p as a novel biomarker for cervical cancer

• Published in: Oncology letters Vol. 21; no. 1; pp. 1 - 54
• Main Authors: Lv, Aixia, Tu, Zengrong, Huang, Yunhua, Lu, Weiying, Xie, Baoguo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Athens Spandidos Publications 01.01.2021; Spandidos Publications UK Ltd; D.A. Spandidos
• Subjects: Age; Analysis; Biomarkers; Cancer; Cervical cancer; Diagnosis; Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid; Hospitals; Medical diagnosis; Metastasis; MicroRNA; MicroRNAs; Microscopy; Oncology; Oncology, Experimental; Plasma; Software; Standard deviation; Statistical analysis; China
• DOI: 10.3892/ol.2020.12316
• ISSN: 1792-1074

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. Key words: exosomes, microRNA-125a-5p, cervical cancer, diagnostic marker