Evaluation of Circulating MicroRNA-130b as a novel non-invasive biomarker for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Document Type : New and original researches in the field of Microbiology.

Authors

1 Department of Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

2 Department of Gastroenterology and Tropial Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

Abstract

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most prevalent liver cancer with a high incidence and mortality, mainly in its advanced stages. Periodic screening is necessary for the detection of the disease in the early curable stage. The most commonly used tumor marker for screening and diagnosis of HCC is alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). Various studies have investigated the function of miRNAs as diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers in HCC. Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the expression of miRNA-130b in the plasma of patients with HCC, HCV and LC. Evaluate the diagnostic performance of miRNA-130b, AFP and their combination for the diagnosis of HCC. Methodology: The study included four groups: 39 patients with HCC, 15 patients with HCV without any other pathology, 15 patients with LC on top of HCV and 10 healthy control individuals. AFP was measured by chemiluminescence. The expression level of miRNA-130b was assessed by a real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: Patients with HCC had significantly higher levels of micro-RNA-130b and AFP in comparison to other groups. LC patients had significantly higher levels of AFP in comparison to those with HCV. Levels of miRNA-130b and AFP were higher in late stages of HCC and large sizes of HFL. Conclusion: The plasma miRNA-130b level can be used as a good marker for distinguishing HCC patients from other non-malignant groups with better diagnostic performance than AFP. It showed higher levels in late stages of HCC. The combination of both markers was better in the diagnosis of early stages of HCC and distinguishing LC from HCC.

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