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Authors Wang H, Wei X, Wu B, Su J, Tan W, Yang K
Received 12 December 2018
Accepted for publication 27 February 2019
Published 17 April 2019 Volume 2019:11 Pages 3351—3360
DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/CMAR.S195654
Checked for plagiarism Yes
Review by Single-blind
Peer reviewers approved by Dr Colin Mak
Peer reviewer comments 2
Editor who approved publication: Dr Antonella D'Anneo
Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is the
common malignant tumor of nasopharynx in southern China and other southeastern
Asian countries. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to play important roles in
carcinogenesis. Recently, miR-34c-3p and miR-18a-5p have been found to be
involved in carcinogenesis of NPC. Furthermore, platelets in NPC patients may
acquire RNAs from NPC cells and turn into “tumor-educated platelet (TEP)”,
which may serve as potential biomarkers for a diagnosis of NPC. However, the
expression profiles of TEP miR-34c-3p and miR-18a-5p in NPC patients and their diagnostic
values are yet to be determined.
Aims: To
investigate expression levels of TEP miR-34c-3p and miR-18a-5p and determine
their diagnostic values for NPC.
Materials and methods: Relative quantitative real-time PCR was used to determine the
expression levels of TEP miR-34c-3p and miR-18a-5p in NPC patients (n=54) as
compared to normal subjects (n=36). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC)
curve analysis was performed to assess the diagnostic values of TEP miR-34c-3p
and miR-18a-5p for NPC.
Results: The
expression levels of TEP miR-34c-3p and miR-18a-5p were significantly higher in
NPC patients as compared to healthy subjects. The ROC analysis showed that the
area under the ROC curve (AUC), sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for TEP
miR-34c-3p, miR-18a-5p, or a combination of both miRNAs for NPC diagnostic
tests were 0.952, 94.44%, 86.11%, 91.11%, or 0.884, 85.19%, 86.11%, 85.55%, or
0.954, 92.59%, 86.11%, 90.00%, respectively. No correlation was found between
expression levels of TEP miR-34c-3p or miR-18a-5p and patients’ demographic
variables and their NPC tumor/node/metastasis stages. The positive rates of TEP
miR-34c-3p and miR-18a-5p for NPC diagnosis were 93.8% and 87.5%, respectively,
which were significantly higher than Epstein-Barr virus DNA with a positive
rate of 66.7%.
Conclusion: The
expression levels of TEP miR-34c-3p and miR-18a-5p are upregulated in NPC,
rendering a significant clinical value for NPC diagnosis. The TEP miRNAs might
serve as a novel type of liquid biopsies for NPC diagnosis.
Keywords: tumor-educated
platelet, miRNA, liquid biopsy, diagnostic value, nasopharyngeal carcinoma