title: Serum microRNA-218 is a potential biomarker for esophageal cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Several studies demonstrated that microRNAs are stably detectable in plasma/serum and are potential biomarkers for some diseases. The expression of microRNA-218 (miR-218) is downregulated in esophageal cancer as reported in previous research.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study is to investigate whether miR-218 can be served as a serum biomarker for esophageal cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  We tested the expression level of miR-218 in serum of 106 patients with esophageal cancer and 60 healthy volunteers by RT-PCR and analyzed the relationship between serum miR-218 expression and the clinical characteristics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The serum expression of miR-218 was significantly lower in patients with esophageal cancer than that in healthy individuals. The value of the area under the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) was 0.833. Furthermore, the ROC curves to detect early esophageal cancer with Tis-T1 or Stage 0-I showed AUCs of 0.825 and 0.829, respectively. In the esophageal cancer group, the serum expression of miR-218 was found to be lower in esophageal cancer patients with poorer differentiation, later stage, and lymph node metastasis, highlighting that low serum expression of miR-218 may be related to tumor development and progression in esophageal cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The serum expression of miR-218 is downregulated in esophageal cancer patients and is correlated with tumor differentiation, stage, and lymph node metastasis. Serum miR-218 may be a potential biomarker for early detection and clinical evaluation in patient with esophageal cancer.
authors: Oncology Center, Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors: Zhaojing
authors: Z
authors: Jiang
authors: Institute of Genetic Engineering, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors: Qiancheng
authors: Q
authors: Song
authors: Oncology Center, Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors: Suoping
authors: S
authors: Yang
authors: Oncology Center, Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors: Rong
authors: R
authors: Zeng
authors: Oncology Center, Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors: Xufeng
authors: X
authors: Li
authors: Oncology Center, Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.|Department of Oncology, Anyang Cancer Hospital, Anyang, Henan, China.
authors: Chunyu
authors: C
authors: Jiang
authors: Oncology Center, Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors: Weimin
authors: W
authors: Ding
authors: Oncology Center, Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors: Jiren
authors: J
authors: Zhang
authors: Oncology Center, Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors: Yanfang
authors: Y
authors: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012372:ROC Curve
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C547471:MIRN218 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Esophageal cancer; cancer detection; microRNA; microRNA-218; serum biomarker