Comparing Salivary miR-125 and miR-30 Expression in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma to Healthy Individuals

Abstract

Introduction: OSCC (Oral squamous cell carcinoma) accounts for approximately 90% of all oral malignancies and is usually diagnosed at advanced stages. This study investigates changes in miR-125 and miR-30 expression in relation to the clinical findings of oral cavity cancer and their possible use as an early diagnostic tool. Method and Material: A population of 30 individuals with oral squamous cell carcinoma and 30 healthy individuals was studied, and the mean age of the two groups was compared using a t-test, with no significant difference found in terms of age so age will not be an interfering factor in this study. The levels of these two biomarkers (miR-125 and miR-30) were measured and evaluated using real-time PCR technique. Results: After evaluating the results of the real-time PCR technique, it was found that miR-125 was positive in 25 out of 30 patients, while it was positive in 5 out of 30 healthy individuals (p-value ≤0.001). miR-30 was a positive biomarker in 10 out of 30 patients. The amount of this biomarker in the group of healthy individuals was 26 out of 30 (p-value < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The miR-125 profile is upregulated in the saliva of OSCC cases, whereas the miR-30 profile is downregulated in the aforementioned patients compared with the healthy group. Therefore, the measurement of miR-125 and miR-30 may be a protentional diagnostic test to identify OSCC. We suggest more extensive studies with a larger sample size to support this claim.