Study on the value of serum miR-106b for the early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

AIMTo analyze the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a population that underwent health checkups and had high serum miR-106b levels.METHODSA total of 335 subjects who underwent checkups in the Digestive and Liver Disease Department of our hospital were randomly selected. RT-PCR was used to detect the level of miR-106b in serum samples. Laboratory and imaging examinations were carried out to confirm the HCC diagnosis in patients who had a > 2-fold change in miR-106b levels. Ultrasound-guided biopsy was also used for HCC diagnosis when necessary. On this basis, the clinical data of these subjects, including history of hepatitis virus infection, obesity, long-term history of alcohol use and stage of HCC, were collected. Then, the impact of these factors on the level of miR-106b in serum was analyzed. Furthermore, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of miR-106b for HCC.RESULTSA total of 35 subjects had abnormal serum miR-106b levels, of which 20 subjects were diagnosed with HCC. t-test revealed that the difference in serum miR-106b level in terms of sex, age, history of hepatitis virus infection, obesity and long-term history of alcohol use was not statistically significant. However, serum miR-106b levels in patients with advanced HCC (stage III/IV) was higher than in patients with early HCC (stage I/II), and the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.000). Moreover, the ROC curve revealed that the area under the curve value for miR-106b was 0.885, which shows that serum miR-106b level has a certain clinical value for HCC diagnosis.CONCLUSIONThe random sampling survey shows that serum miR-106b level is a valuable diagnostic marker for HCC. However, the diagnostic threshold value needs to be further researched.

Circulating miR-106b-3p, miR-101-3p and miR-1246 as diagnostic biomarkers of hepatocellular carcinoma

“…Interestingly, among all validated miRNAs, miR-106b-3p was the only one to show an up-regulation both in plasma and serum samples. These results are in agreement with recent reports [ 52 , 53 ]. In HCC, miR-106b and miRNAs of the miR-106b-25 cluster are upregulated, promote cell migration and metastasis and are associated with poor prognosis [ 54 – 56 ].…”

Circulating miR-26a, miR-106b, miR-107 and miR-133b stratify hepatocellular carcinoma patients according to their response to transarterial chemoembolization

“…Several previous studies have confirmed that some of these miRs were differentially expressed in HCC patients versus their normal counterparts. For instance, the serum level of miR-106b was higher in HCC patients at advanced versus early stages with ROC value of 0.885 [24]. Using miR-107 as a diagnostic marker, it separates HCC patients from normal subjects and the combination of miR-92 and miR-3126 improved their diagnostic accuracy [25].…”

Liquid Biopsies in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Are We Winning?

“…They can be found in circulation enclosed in EVs or associated with proteins (typically argonaute 2 (AGO2) and nucleomorphin 1 (NPM1)) or lipoproteins (e.g., HDL). Many circulating miRNAs, including miR-106b, miR-21, miR-200a, miR-122, miR-223, let-7f, and miR-155 have already been described to associate with HCC, with promising diagnostic and prognostic value [127,128]. Overall, more than 70 miRNAs have already been suggested as candidate biomarkers for HCC [129].…”