Analysis of deregulated microRNAs in malignant mesothelioma

The expression of human microRNAs in the cellular fraction of human peripheral blood of patients with diagnosed malignant mesotheliomas and asbestos-exposed controls. Altered expression of several miRNAs were observed for patients with diagnosed malignant mesotheliomas in comparison with asebstos-expsoed controls. The study group consists of 23 patients with diagnosed malignant mesothelioma (mean age 66 years, range 34 – 84 years). Patients were not treated with chemotherapy or radiation therapy before sample collection. The histological subtypes were: one sarcomatoid, seven biphasic, and twelve epithelioid cases. In three cases the histological subtype was unknown. The control group consists of 17 asbestos-exposed age-matched volunteers without any diagnosed cancer (mean age 68 years, range 47 – 80 years). Oligonucleotide microarrays were purchased from the Norwegican Microarray Consortium (www.microarray.no). The mirVana miRNA Probe Set v2.0 (Ambion) based on the miRBase Sequence Database v8.0. was used.