Diagnostic and Prognostic Potential of Circulating miR-1301-3p, miR-106a-5p, miR-129-5p, miR-3613-3p, and miR-647 microRNAs in Gastric Cancer

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide and ranks fifth in the structure of cancer mortality. MicroRNAs are involved in the pathogenesis and progression of GC as epigenetic factors, and are considered as potential noninvasive markers. We selected microRNAs involved in the regulation of epigenetic mechanisms in GC (miR-1301-3p, miR-106a-5p, miR-129-5p, miR-3613-3p, miR-647) and analyzed their expression in plasma of GC patients. To assess their diagnostic and prognostic potential, we estimated correlations of differential expression with clinical and pathological characteristics of GC tumors. The study included 65 plasma samples from the GC patients and 48 plasma samples obtained from the individuals without tumor lesions, which were used as a control group. The expression was analyzed by using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method. When comparing the expression levels of selected microRNAs in the plasma of GC patients and the control group, significant differences were found for miR-1301-3p (p = 0.040), miR-106a-5p (p = 0.029), miR-129-5p (p < 0.0001), miR-647 (p < 0.0001). MiR-129-5p expression was significantly associated with the prevalence of a primary tumor (p = 0.002), with the development of metastases to regional lymph nodes (p = 0.003), and distant metastases (p = 0.003), as well as with the late clinical stage (p = 0.003). There was a significant correlation between the miR-3613-3p expression and the clinical stage of GC (p = 0.049). ROC analysis revealed that combining miR-106a-5p, miR-129-5p, miR-1301-3p, and miR-647 improves diagnostic and prognostic properties of the potential panel of markers.