MicroRNA Expression in Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Homo sapiens

Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States each year. Despite a generally good prognosis, metastatic cSCC results in over 3500 deaths annually. There are no specifically targeted therapies or biomarkers for metastatic cSCC. To determine whether aberrant microRNA expression occurs in metastatic cSCC which could provide novel targets for therapy or biomarkers for earlier diagnosis or prognosis, microRNA expression profiling was performed in 48 samples including normal skin, primary tumors and metastases. Multiple microRNAs showed differential expression; miR-4286, miR-200a-3p and miR-148-3p showed increased expression and miR-1915-3p, miR-205-5p, miR-4516 and miR-150-5p showed reduced expression in metastatic samples. Several microRNAs previously showing aberrant expressionshown to be aberrantly expressed in primary cSCCs were also observed in this study including miR-100, miR-135b, miR-145, miR-21, and miR-214. In summary, several microRNAs show differential expression between primary and metastatic cSCCs; these may be useful as biomarkers for metastasis or as targets for therapytherapeutic targets. Overall design: RNA extracted from primary human tissues