Published online May 28, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i20.3713
Peer-review started: January 22, 2017
First decision: February 21, 2017
Revised: March 7, 2017
Accepted: March 21, 2017
Article in press: March 21, 2017
Published online: May 28, 2017
Processing time: 125 Days and 6.8 Hours
To analyze the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a population that underwent health checkups and had high serum miR-106b levels.
A total of 335 subjects who underwent checkups in the Digestive and Liver Disease Department of our hospital were randomly selected. RT-PCR was used to detect the level of miR-106b in serum samples. Laboratory and imaging examinations were carried out to confirm the HCC diagnosis in patients who had a > 2-fold change in miR-106b levels. Ultrasound-guided biopsy was also used for HCC diagnosis when necessary. On this basis, the clinical data of these subjects, including history of hepatitis virus infection, obesity, long-term history of alcohol use and stage of HCC, were collected. Then, the impact of these factors on the level of miR-106b in serum was analyzed. Furthermore, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of miR-106b for HCC.
A total of 35 subjects had abnormal serum miR-106b levels, of which 20 subjects were diagnosed with HCC. t-test revealed that the difference in serum miR-106b level in terms of sex, age, history of hepatitis virus infection, obesity and long-term history of alcohol use was not statistically significant. However, serum miR-106b levels in patients with advanced HCC (stage III/IV) was higher than in patients with early HCC (stage I/II), and the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.000). Moreover, the ROC curve revealed that the area under the curve value for miR-106b was 0.885, which shows that serum miR-106b level has a certain clinical value for HCC diagnosis.
The random sampling survey shows that serum miR-106b level is a valuable diagnostic marker for HCC. However, the diagnostic threshold value needs to be further researched.
Core tip: Primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the cause of a large number of patient deaths each year, and presents a heavy financial burden to the community and family. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been proven to be involved in the development of various cancers, as well as during the development process. Among these miRNAs, miR-106b has been shown to be a potential diagnostic marker for early HCC. We randomly selected the sera of medical examiners and detected their miR-106b level and further verified the diagnostic value of miR-106b, and provided more data to support the clinical application of miR-106b in evidence-based medicine.