Diagnostic Potential of Circulating MicroRNA-21 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Abstract Background 26 AimsSeveral studies have reported the significance of circulating microRNA as a biochemical marker of cancer. However there are no reports on the significance of circulating microRNA in hepatocellular carcinoma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the significance of plasma microRNA-21 level as a biochemical marker for hepatocellular carcinoma.Materials 26 Methods To identify the causal role of MicroRNA-21 in hepatocarcinogenesis we used a human model in which 30 diagnosed HCC cases of different stages 20 HCV positive cases and 20 healthy controls were tested for circulating microRNA-21 using whole blood samples taken from mentioned individuals at National Liver Institute Menoufiya University. MicroRNA extraction Amplification RT-PCR was done for all samples with other various biochemical analysis. Results Real-time RT-PCR analysis demonstrated upregulation of oncogenic miR-21 at different stages of hepatocarcinogenesis. On the other hand there were no significant miRNA-21 changes neither in HCV nor Control groups. ROC study showed that the best cutoff value for miR-21 was 3.93 Fold expression and the sensitivity was 93 while the specificity was 90. Compared to the cutoff value for AFP which was 91.7 ngmL and the sensitivity was 75.2 while the specificity was 92.3 .Conclusion Circulating MiRNA-21 level is more sensitive than AFP and highly specific as a biological marker for HCC also it is proved to be beneficial in early diagnosis of HCC.Targeting of microRNA-21 is sufficient to limit tumor cell proliferation and invasion in a manner that is likely to involve associated changes in multiple targets suggesting that suppression of microRNA-21 may be an approach for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.