Serum miR-18a: A Potential Marker for Hepatitis B Virus-Related Hepatocellular Carcinoma Screening

• Published in: Digestive diseases and sciences Vol. 57; no. 11; pp. 2910 - 2916
• Main Authors: Li, Lihua, Guo, Zijan, Wang, Juanhua, Mao, Yong, Gao, Qi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.11.2012; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Analysis; Analysis of Variance; Biochemistry; Biomarkers - blood; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - blood; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - virology; Case-Control Studies; Chi-Square Distribution; Female; Gastroenterology; Health aspects; Hepatitis B; Hepatitis B virus; Hepatitis B, Chronic - blood; Hepatitis B, Chronic - complications; Hepatology; Hepatoma; Humans; Infection; Liver cirrhosis; Liver Neoplasms - blood; Liver Neoplasms - virology; Male; Mass Screening; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; MicroRNA; MicroRNAs - blood; Middle Aged; Oncology; Original Article; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; ROC Curve; Sensitivity and Specificity; Transplant Surgery; Hepatocellular; Serum; Biomarker; Carcinoma; Hepatitis B virus; miR-18a
• ISSN: 0163-2116; 1573-2568; 1573-2568
• DOI: 10.1007/s10620-012-2317-y

Background A lpha-fetoprotein detection is currently mainly used in clinic for diagnosis of primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, its sensitivity and specificity are not satisfying. Approximately 60–80 % of patients with HCC have an established background of chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV). Aims To investigate the potential of serum microRNAs (miRNAs) as biomarkers for HBV-related HCC. Methods This study was divided into two phases: firstly, marker (miR-95, miR-18a, miR-10b, miR125a, and miR-378) detection by real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in sera from HBV patients with HCC ( n  = 15) and health subject ( n  = 15); and, secondly, marker validation by real-time qRT-PCR on HBV patients with HCC ( n  = 86) or hepatitis or cirrhosis ( n  = 30), and healthy subject ( n  = 45). Results Serum miR-18a was significantly higher in HBV patients with HCC than healthy controls ( p  < 0.01); serum miR-378 was significantly lower in HBV patients with HCC compared to healthy control ( p  < 0.05). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses suggested that serum miR-18a had significant diagnostic value for HBV-related HCC. MiR-18a yielded an area under the curve (AUC) of ROC of 0.881 with 86.1 % sensitivity and 75.0 % specificity in discriminating HBV-related HCC from healthy controls, and an AUC of ROC of 0.775 with 77.2 % sensitivity and 70.0 % specificity in discriminating HBV-related HCC from chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis. Conclusions Our results suggest that serum miR-18a might serve as a novel and potential noninvasive biomarker for HBV-related HCC screening.