ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the possibility of miR-125b in serum as a novel tumor marker for primary hepatocellular car-cinoma (HCC) and the diagnosis value of combined detection of miR-125b and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) for HCC. Methods:We detected serum miR-125b expression of 65 cases of HCC patients and 30 cases of healthy controls by real-time quantitative PCR. Moreover, we analyzed the significance of miR-125b and explored the relationship between miR-125b and clinical pathological factors. Results:The level of miRNA-125b was down regulated in serum of HCC patients compared with healthy controls which showed significant differences (P0.05). The expression level of miRNA-125b correlated the difference with liver Cirrhosis, tumor size and tumor node metastasis (TNM) stages, which were considered significant differences (P<0.05). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis of serum miR-125b for the diagnosis of HCC yielded AUC of 0.917(95%CI:0.851~0.960, P<0.001)with 85.9%sensitivity and 93.5%specificity. The ROC curve analysis of combined miR-125b and AFP for HCC detection yielded AUC of 0.951(95%CI:0.894~0.982, P<0.001)with 92.9%sensitivity and 93.5%specificity. The ROC curve analysis of serum miR-125b as biomarkers for the group (AFP<20μg/L) of HCC yielded AUC of 0.889(95%CI:0.776~0.957, P<0.001)with 84.0%sensitivity and 87.1%specificity. Conclusion:Serum miRNA-125b combined with AFP has considerable clinical value for the early diagnosis of primary HCC.