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Detection of miR-34a and miR-34b/c in stool sample as potential screening biomarkers for noninvasive diagnosis of colorectal cancer

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Abstract

Explore potential screening biomarkers for noninvasive diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) by testing methylation of the miR-34a and miR-34b/c promoter in CRC patients’ tissue and stool samples. Methylation-specific PCR analyses were performed on sample DNAs: 82 pairs of normal/cancer samples, 82 CRC patients’ stool samples, 40 healthy volunteer stool samples, and 20 healthy volunteer blood samples were recruited. miR-34a has been found methylated in 65 of 82 (79.3 %) the CRC tissue samples, but only 36 of 82 (43.9 %) in corresponding normal samples. And when testing miR-34a in stool, 63 of 82 (76.8 %) CRC stool samples were observed methylated, and 2 of 40 (5 %) healthy samples were observed methylated. The methylation for miR-34b/c has been found in 80 of 82 (97.5 %) CRC tissue samples, 49 of 82 (59.8 %) corresponding CRC normal samples, and 74 of 79 (93.6 %) CRC stool samples. Yet we did not detect any methylation from healthy volunteers stool samples or healthy adult blood samples. Results indicated 76.8 % sensitivity and 93.6 % specificity of the miR-34a methylation test for detecting CRC using stool samples. Meanwhile, the sensitivity and specificity of miR-34b/c were 95 and 100 %, respectively. Moreover, our results revealed that abnormal DNA methylation of miR-34a was correlated with lymph metastasis (P = 0.010). Abnormal methylation of miR-34a and miR-34b/c genes might be regarded as potential biomarkers for noninvasive screening and diagnosis of colorectal cancer.

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Acknowledgments

We express our deep gratitude for the supporting by a grant from the Scientific and Technologic Bureau of Xi’an.

Conflict of interest

The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Department of Surgical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University College of Medicine, 277W. Yanta Road, Xi’an, 710061, Shaanxi, China

    Xuan-di Wu, Yong-Chun Song, Pei-Long Cao, Hao Zhang, Qi Guo, Rong Yan, Dong-mei Diao, Yao Cheng & Cheng-Xue Dang

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  1. Xuan-di Wu
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Correspondence to Cheng-Xue Dang.

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Xuan-di Wu and Yong-chun Song have contributed equally to this work.

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Wu, Xd., Song, YC., Cao, PL. et al. Detection of miR-34a and miR-34b/c in stool sample as potential screening biomarkers for noninvasive diagnosis of colorectal cancer. Med Oncol 31, 894 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-014-0894-7

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