MicroRNA expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: Novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers

Abstract

Abstract. The aim of the present study was to identify more effective molecular diagnostic biomarkers for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). The non-coding RNA profile GSE43732, generated from 238 paired frozen tissues from 119 patients, was analyzed. Raw data were preprocessed and the differentially expressed miRNAs were screened by limma package with log 2 fold change >2. Prognosis-associated miRNAs were identified using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and Kaplan-Meier (KM) curve analysis. miRNAs with an area under the ROC curve of ≥0.7 were selected. miRNA target genes were identified from verification and predictive databases, and an miRNA regulatory network was constructed and visualized using Cytoscape software. Gene Ontology and pathway enrichment analyses of the target genes were performed using TargetMine. A total of 107 differentially expressed miRNAs, including 54 upregulated and 53 downregulated miRNAs, were obtained. The KM survival curves revealed that 44 miRNAs were significantly associated with prognosis. Furthermore, 9 upregulated and 3 downregulated miRNAs were obtained. Two upregulated miRNAs, hsa-miR-143-3p and hsa-miR-145-5p, and two downregulated miRNAs, hsa-miR-182-5p and hsa-miR-455-5p, were identified and demonstrated to be associated with prognosis in ESCC. In addition, 8 known and 245 predicted target genes of hsa-miR-455-5p were screened and the regulatory networks were constructed. Furthermore, these genes were functionally associated with macromolecule metabolic process and melanoma. In conclusion, two novel tumor suppressive miRNAs including miR-182-5p and miR-455-5p were identified. miR-455-5p in particular may be involved in the regulation of ESCC. These miRNAs may be used to predict the prognosis of ESCC.

Tumor-Derived Exosomal miR-143-3p Induces Macrophage M2 Polarization to Cause Radiation Resistance in Locally Advanced Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

“…Notably, serum samples from patients who experienced progression exhibited higher levels of exosomal miR-143-3p during radiotherapy than those at baseline, suggesting its potential utility in the development of liquid biopsy techniques. A study also reported a notable increase of hsa-miR-143-3p in ESCC tissues compared with that in adjacent normal tissue, along with its association with prognosis [ 48 ], which supported our results. Moreover, given the multitude of genomic alterations and the restricted effectiveness of therapies targeting cancer cells, recent research efforts have concentrated on acquiring a broader comprehension of the TME and potential strategies to alter it to facilitate cancer treatment [ 49 ].…”

Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells-derived exosomes deliver microRNA-375 to downregulate ENAH and thus retard esophageal squamous cell carcinoma progression

“…More importantly, hUCMSCsexo represses the progression of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma by delivery of exogenously loaded miR-145-5p [10]. Numerous microRNAs (miRNAs or miRs), including miR-375, have been highlighted as promising diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for ESCC patients [11][12][13]. Downregulation of miR-375 is a frequent observation in ESCC, which correlates with poor prognosis, low survival rate, and tumor metastasis [14,15].…”

Predicting miRNA-disease association from heterogeneous information network with GraRep embedding model

“…According to dbDEMC and miR2Disease's evidence, 44 of the top 50 predicted miRNAs were verified (see Table 8). For example, the association between hsa-miR-182-5p and esophageal neoplasms has been confirmed by previous method 54 . This method identified two new tumor suppressor miRNA, including miR-182-5p and miR-455-5p, of which has-miR-182-5p was confirmed to be associated with esophageal cancer.…”