ABSTRACT
Objective To measure plasma microRNAs dysregulated in patients with pancreatic cancer and to assess the potential of these miRNAs as biomarkers for pancreatic cancer.Methods Thirty-seven patients with pancreatic cancer who underwent pancreatic resection between June 2010 to July 2011 were enrolled in the Lihuili Hospital,and ten healthy volunteers were used as control in this study.The expression levels of miR-190,miR-196a,miR-221 and miR-222 were analyzed using quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).U6 was used as an internal control.The relationships between clinicopathoiogic characteristics of pancreatic cancer and microRNA expression levels were analyzed.Results The relative abundances of plasma microRNAs were significantly higher in pancreatic cancer patients than in the control group.The highly expressed plasma miR-190,miR-196a,miR-221,miR-222 levels did not correlate with clinicopathologic characteristics of patients such as sex,age,tumor maximal diameter,and level of serum CA199.The plasma miR-196a levels showed a positive correlation with TNM stage in pancreatic cancer patients.Conclusions The plasma levels ofmiR-190,miR-196a,miR-221 and miR-222 were highly upregulated in pancreatic cancer patients.These microRNAs in plasma may provide a new method in the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.