title: Simultaneous Underexpression of let-7a-5p and let-7f-5p microRNAs in Plasma and Stool Samples from Early Stage Colorectal Carcinoma.
abstract: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common malignancy and the second most common cause of cancer death worldwide. Early detection of CRC can improve patient survival rates; thus, the identification of noninvasive diagnostic markers is urgently needed. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have extensive potential to diagnose several diseases, including cancer. In this study, we compared the expression pattern of miRNAs from plasma and stool samples of patients with early stages of CRC (I, II) with that of healthy subjects. We performed miRNA profiling using microarrays on plasma and stool samples of eight patients with CRC and four healthy subjects. Seven miRNAs were found to be underexpressed in both plasma and stool samples of patients with CRC versus healthy subjects. Then, we aimed to verify two out of these seven differentially expressed miRNAs (let-7a-5p and let-7f-5p) by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction on a larger set of plasma and stool samples of 51 patients with CRC and 26 healthy subjects. We confirmed the results of microarray analysis since their expression was significantly lower in stool and plasma samples of patients with CRC. Moreover, receiver operating characteristic curve analysis demonstrated that fecal let-7f expression levels have significant sensitivity and specificity to distinguish between patients with CRC and healthy subjects. In conclusion, if the results are confirmed in larger series of patients, underexpressed let-7a-5p and let-7f-5p miRNAs in both plasma and stool samples of patients with CRC may serve potentially as noninvasive molecular biomarkers for the early detection of CRC.
authors.affiliation: Digestive Oncology Research Center, Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ghanbari
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Neda
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mosakhani
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Virinder K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Sarhadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.; Unit of Biological Anthropology, Department of Animal Biology, Plant Biology and Ecology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Gemma
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Armengol
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Moddares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Nazila
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nouraee
authors.affiliation: Digestive Oncology Research Center, Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ashraf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mohammadkhani
authors.affiliation: Digestive Oncology Research Center, Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Samaneh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khorrami
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Biology, College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ehsan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Arefian
authors.affiliation: Research and Development Department, Production and Research Complex, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paryan
authors.affiliation: Digestive Oncology Research Center, Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Malekzadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Sakari
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Knuutila
keywords: colorectal cancer; early markers; let-7; miRNA; plasma DNA; stool DNA