Distinctive microRNA profiles relating to patient survival in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

We have investigated expressed microRNA in cryo-preserved esophageal cancer tissues using advanced microRNA microarray techniques. Our microarray analyses reveal a unique microRNA expression signature composed of 40 genes which can distinguish normal from malignant esophageal tissue. Some microRNAs could be correlated with the different clinico-pathological classifications. For example, high hsa-miR-103, -107, -23b expression correlated with poor overall disease-free survival of esophageal cancer patients. These results indicate that microRNA expression profiles are important diagnostic and prognostic markers of esophageal cancer, which might be analyzed simply using economical approaches such as RT-PCR. Keywords: microRNA, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cancer vs adjacent normal tissues

本研究借助先进的微小核糖核酸（microRNA）微阵列技术，对冷冻保存的食管癌组织中的microRNA表达情况进行了探究。本团队通过微阵列分析发现了一组独特的microRNA表达特征，该特征由40个基因组成，可有效区分正常食管组织与恶性食管组织。部分microRNA的表达水平与不同临床病理分型存在相关性。例如，hsa-miR-103、hsa-miR-107及hsa-miR-23b的高表达与食管癌患者较差的总体无病生存率显著相关。上述研究结果表明，microRNA表达谱可作为食管癌重要的诊断与预后标志物，且可通过逆转录聚合酶链式反应（RT-PCR）这类经济便捷的方法进行简便检测。关键词：microRNA、食管鳞状细胞癌、癌组织与毗邻正常组织