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Role of serum Metadherin mRNA expression in the diagnosis and prediction of survival in patients with colorectal cancer

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Abstract

Early diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC) are important for improving patients’ survival. Metadherin is an oncogene that plays a pivotal role in carcinogenesis and can be suggested as a cancer biomarker. This study aimed to elucidate the efficacy of serum Metadherin mRNA expression as a potential non-invasive biomarker for early diagnosis of CRC in relation to other screening markers as carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen 19.9 (CA19.9) and Fecal occult blood (FOB) and also to assess its relationship with the tumor stage and survival rate. A convenience series of 86 CRC cases (group I) were recruited with 78 subjects as controls (group II). Serum Metadherin mRNA expression level was determined using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Serum Metadherin mRNA expression level was significantly elevated in CRC cases when compared with controls (P < 0.001). For CRC diagnosis; Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analyses revealed that the diagnostic accuracy of serum Metadherin mRNA (AUC = 0.976) was significantly higher than other routine CRC screening markers as CEA, CA19.9 and FOB. The combined accuracy of these markers (AUC = 0.741) was increased when used with serum Metadherin mRNA (AUC = 0.820). High serum Metadherin mRNA expression was associated with poorly differentiated histological grade, advanced tumor stage and lower survival rate. AUC of Metadherin was 0.820 for differentiating advanced versus early tumor stages. Serum Metadherin mRNA expression is a useful non-invasive biomarker for CRC. It can be used for screening and early diagnosis of CRC and can increase the efficacy of other routine CRC screening markers when it is estimated in CRC patients with them. It is also associated with advanced tumor stage and a lower survival rate.

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Abbreviations

CRC:

Colorectal cancer

CA19.9:

Carbohydrate antigen19.9

CEA:

Carcino-embryonic antigen

FOB:

Fecal occult blood

AEG-1:

Astrocyte elevated gene-1

PCR:

Polymerase chain reaction

AUC:

Area under curve

FIT:

Fecal immunochemical test

PI3K:

Phosphoinositol 3-kinase

NF-κB:

Nuclear factor kappa B

AJCC:

American Joint Committee on Cancer

EDTA:

Ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid

RT:

Reverse transcriptase

GAPDH:

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase

CT:

Cycle threshold

PPV:

Positive predictive value

NPV:

Negative predictive value

TNFα:

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha

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Acknowledgements

we would like to express our special appreciation for all patients participating in this study.

Funding

No funding was received.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Aljaysh st, Medical Campus, Tanta, 31511, Egypt

    Muhammad Tarek Abdel Ghafar

  2. Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

    Fatma Gharib

  3. Department of Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

    Sherief Abdel-Salam & Reham Abdelkader Elkhouly

  4. Department of General Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

    Ahmed Elshora

  5. Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

    Khaled H. Shalaby & Alzahraa A. Allam

  6. Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

    Dina El-Guindy & Mohamed Ali El-Rashidy

  7. Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

    Nema A. Soliman

  8. Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

    Mira Maged Abu-elenin

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  1. Muhammad Tarek Abdel Ghafar
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Contributions

MTAG researched literature and conceived the study. FG, SA, RAE, and AE were involved in patient recruitment. MTAG and NAS performed laboratory and molecular investigations. DE and MAE have performed the histopathological examination. KHS, AAA, and MMA were responsible for data analysis. MTAG wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript and approved the final version of the manuscript

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Correspondence to Muhammad Tarek Abdel Ghafar.

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Abdel Ghafar, M.T., Gharib, F., Abdel-Salam, S. et al. Role of serum Metadherin mRNA expression in the diagnosis and prediction of survival in patients with colorectal cancer. Mol Biol Rep 47, 2509–2519 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-020-05334-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-020-05334-5

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