Exosomal MicroRNA Analysis in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cell Lines

Exosomal miRNAs have been studied in a variety of cancers as minimally invasive biomarkers. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs) as bi-omarkers for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Exosomes were isolated from cultures of esophageal epithelial cell and ESCC cell lines using ExoDisc, and exosomal miRNAs were de-tected by miRNA sequencing. Of the differentially expressed 14 miRNAs, the top two up-regulated miRNAs (miR-205-5p and miR-429) and top two down-regulated miRNAs (miR-375-3p and miR-483-3p) were selected as ESCC target miRNAs. Four selected exosomal miRNAs were vali-dated in the plasma of 20 healthy controls (HCs) and 40 ESCC patients by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The expression of plasma exosomal miR-205-5p and miR-429 was significantly up-regulated, while that of plasma exosomal miR-375-3p was signifi-cantly down-regulated in ESCC patients compared to HCs. At cut-off values of 5.04, 2.564, and 0.136, the sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of ESCC were 72.5% and 70.0% for miR-205-5p, 60.0% and 60.0% for miR-429, and 65.0% and 65.0% for miR-375-3p, respectively. Based on the exosomal miRNAs identified in ESCC cell lines, our study demonstrated that plasma exosomal miR-205-5p, miR-429, and miR-375-3p could act as potential biomarkers for ESCC diagnosis.