[Serum levels of miRNA-183 in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and its diagnostic value].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the changes of serum microRNA-183 levels in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and its clinical significance.
 Methods: Fifty-one patients with ESCC and 55 healthy subjects from Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South Unicersity were selected for this study. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to determine the level of miRNA-183 in serum samples. Chi-square test and correlation analysis were used to investigate the relationship between serum miRNA-183 level and clinical and pathological parameters of ESCC. Diagnostic efficiency of miRNA-183 and combined carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) examination for ESCC was analyzed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.
 Results: 1) The levels of miR-183 in the patients with ESCC (4.47±1.54) were elevated compared with that in the healthy subjects (2.03±0.96), with significant difference (t=9.700, P<0.01). 2) The levels of serum miR-183 in ESCC patients were significantly different among patients with different TNM stages (χ2=4.049, P<0.01), which was not affected by gender, age, smoking, drinking, tumor location, tumor diameter, lymph node metastasis, depth of invasion and differentiation (all P>0.05). The levels of miR-183 were not associated with the serum CEA levels (P>0.05). 3) When the ROC curve analysis was used to diagnose ESCC with the optimal cutoff value of 4.502 for miR-183, the sensitivity, the specificity, the area under the curve (AUC) and 95% confidence interval was 78.9%, 76.2%, 0.762 and 0.830-0.922, respectively. When combined detection of serum miR-183 and CEA was used to diagnose ESCC, the sensitivity, specificity, AUC and 95% confidence interval was 82.3%, 92.6%, 0.877 and 0.814-0.935, respectively.
 Conclusion: Serum miRNA-183 levels in ESCC patients may be increased, which can improve the diagnostic efficiency of ESCC when combined with CEA. Serum miRNA-183 levels is related with tumor TNM stage, which contributes to the judgment of tumor progression and efficacy prediction.