Detection of circulating tumor cells in peripheral blood from patients with gastric cancer using microRNA as a marker

• Published in: Journal of molecular medicine (Berlin, Germany) Germany), 2010-07, Vol.88 (7), p.709-717
• Main Authors: Zhou, Hui, Guo, Jun-Ming, Lou, Yan-Ru, Zhang, Xin-Jun, Zhong, Fa-De, Jiang, Zhen, Cheng, Jia, Xiao, Bing-Xiu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Biomarkers, Tumor - blood; Biomarkers, Tumor - genetics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cell Line, Tumor; Diagnosis, Differential; Female; Gastroenterology. Liver. Pancreas. Abdomen; General aspects; Human Genetics; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Internal Medicine; Male; Medical sciences; MicroRNAs - blood; MicroRNAs - genetics; Middle Aged; Molecular Medicine; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating; Original Article; ROC Curve; Stomach Neoplasms - blood; Stomach Neoplasms - genetics; Stomach Neoplasms - pathology; Stomach. Duodenum. Small intestine. Colon. Rectum. Anus; Tumors
• ISSN: 0946-2716; 1432-1440
• DOI: 10.1007/s00109-010-0617-2

Recently, the detection of occult cancer cells in peripheral blood has received a great deal of attention regarding the prediction of postoperative cancer recurrence and for novel strategies of adjuvant therapy. The aim of this study was to establish a new molecular diagnostic method of detecting circulating tumor cells. Gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells in 2 ml blood from healthy volunteers were serially diluted. Additional peripheral blood samples were collected from 90 patients and 27 healthy volunteers. Real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the levels of microRNA-106a (miR-106a) and microRNA-17 (miR-17). Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves were constructed. In recovery experiments, a significant correlation between the number of cancer cells and the levels of both miR-106a ( r  = −0.906, p  = 0.037) and miR-17 ( r  = −0.912, p  = 0.031) was found. In preoperative and postoperative patient groups, miR-106a and miR-17 levels were significantly higher than those in controls. The areas under the ROC curve for miR-106a, miR-17, and combination were 0.684 ( p  = 0.0066), 0.743 ( p  = 0.0001), and 0.741 ( p  = 0.0002), respectively. Our results indicate that the detection of miRNA in peripheral blood may be a novel tool for monitoring circulating tumor cells in patients with gastric cancers.