ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE To investigate the value of multiple target miRNAs of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) susceptible gene TERT in the serum of patients with NPC for clinical diagnosis. METHODS The peripheral venous blood from 60 paitents with NPC and 60 healthy volunteers in our hospital were collected., The relative expression of miR-138, mir-491, miR-181, mir-1207, mir-346, mir-512-5P, mir-299, mir-1266 and mir-1182 of peripheral venous blood was detemined by RT-PCR, and the correlation between mir-1182 expression levels and clinical pathological features of patients with NPC was analyzed. RESULTS The expression levels of mir-1207, mir-346, mir-512-5P, mir-299, mir-1266 andmir-1182 of the peripheral venous blood in patients with NPC were lower than those in healthy people, with a significant difference observed for mir-1182 (P＜0. 01). The expression levels of mir-1182 in patients during Ⅲ-Ⅳ phase, in the tumors which diameter was greater than or equal to 5 cm and in the serum of patients with cancer metastasis were respectively lower than those during I - II phase, in the tumors which diameter was less than or equal to 5 cm and in the serum of patients with no cancer metastasis (P＜0. 05). The diagnostic value of AUC for mir-1182 was 0. 851 (95％CI: 0. 782～0. 919), with both the sensitivity and the specificity was 65％ and 93. 3％ respectively. CONCLUSION There is a negative correlation between the serum expression levels in the patients with NPC and thetumor size, lymph node metastasis, TNM phase and pathological staging, indicating that mir-1182 exerts abetter diagnostic performance and contributes to therapeutic strategies for NPC.