No abstract

Background Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small RNAs of 17–25 nucleotides in length. miRNA-155 has a great role in lymphomagenesis through several mechanisms. Recent years have shown clearly a growth in knowledge of the etiology and pathogenesis of non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs). Aim This work aimed to study the expression of miRNA-155 in patients with NHL and its correlation with clinical and pathological criteria of these patients; so that we could achieve a new biomarker in the prediction of progression of the disease. Settings and study design This is a cross-sectional study with a nested control group. Cases and controls were recruited from the Clinical Pathology Department at South Egypt Cancer Institute. Patients and methods This study was conducted on 32 patients with NHL. Peripheral blood and bone marrow samples were analyzed using 7500 Fast real-time PCR (Applied Biosystems). Statistical analysis used Results were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics, version 20 (SPSS Inc.). Results There was a significant correlation between expression levels of miRNA-155 in patients with NHL and their clinical stages or international prognostic indices. Conclusion It has been found that expression levels of miRNA-155 in patients’ samples were higher in cases of advanced clinical stage or higher international prognostic index. In addition, this study showed the correlation between miRNA-155 and behavior of B-NHL subtypes, total leukocytic count, and hemoglobin levels of patients. These findings revealed the great role of miRNA-155 in lymphomagenesis and also its usage as a new predictive biomarker in patients with NHL.