title: Plasma microRNAs to predict the response of radiotherapy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients.
abstract: Although microRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), their roles in radiotherapy response remain unexplored. Our study aims to investigate whether plasma miRNAs can be used as predictors of radiotherapy outcome in ESCC patients. We selected nine miRNAs, which were reported to be associated with carcinogenesis or radiobiology of ESCC, as the targets of our study. Plasma miRNA expression was investigated with 24 subjects (pre-, at the first week and post-radiotherapy). Tumor radiographic response and 3-year overall survival were used to evaluate the response. The results showed that the level of miR-16 in the patients with good outcome was significantly higher than that in the patients with poor outcome (P < 0.05, AUC: 0.762) at the post-radiotherapy. We also found that the variation tendency of miRNA expression were related to its radiotherapy response. Moreover, miR-16 levels increased by more than 2-fold following treatment, which were shown to be associated with longer OS (log-rank P = 0.009). In conclusion, miR-16 has considerable clinical value in predicting radiotherapy outcomes for ESCC patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center Shanghai, China ; Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Central Hospital of Lishui/The Five Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University Lishui, China ; Department of Radiation Oncology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Bingxin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zeliang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biosciences, Institute of Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Austin, USA.
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vaughn
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Liucun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University Shanghai, China ; Department of Radiation Oncology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital Shanghai, China ; Department of Radiation Oncology, Shanghai Proton and Heavy Ion Center, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Shen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fu
keywords: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; microRNAs; plasma; radiotherapy