Systematic profiling of human microRNAs in plasma from nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients reveals candidate biomarkers

We used microarrays to perform systematic profiling of human microRNAs in plasma from nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients to find potential biomarkers. By comparing the plasma microRNA profiles of the NPC patients and healthy donors, potential biomarkers for NPC were investigated. A total of 39 microRNAs were aberrantly expressed based on 50 Agilent microarrays containing 887 human microRNAs 50 microarrays containing 887 human microRNAs were used to screen for potential biomarkers with significant differential expression levels between 31 NPC patients and 19 healthy donors.