Screening of MicroRNA in Patients with Esophageal Cancer at Same Tumor Node Metastasis Stage with Different Prognoses

Patients at the same pathological stage of esophageal cancer (EC) that received the same surgical therapy bythe same surgeon may have distinct prognoses. The current study aimed to explore the possibility of differentiallyexpressedmicroRNAs (miRNAs) underlying this phenomenon. Samples were collected from EC patients at thesame tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage but with different prognoses. Paracancerous normal tissues were takenas controls. The specimens were histopathologically analyzed. Differentially-expressed miRNAs were analyzedusing real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Compared with patients with poorprognosis, those with good prognosis exhibited 88 two-fold or more than two-fold increased miRNA fragmentsand 4 half-decreased miRNAs. The most noticeably up-regulated miRNAs included hsa-miR-31, hsa-miR-196b, hsa-miR-652, hsa-miR-125a-5p, hsa-miR-146b, hsa-miR-200c, hsa-miR-23b, hsa-miR-29a, hsa-miR-186,hsa-miR-205, hsa-miR-376a, hsa-miR-410, hsa-miR-532-3p, and hsa-miR-598, whereas the most significantlydownregulatedmiRNAs were hsa-let-7e, hsa-miR-130b, and hsa-miR-103. EC patients at same TNM stage butwith different prognoses show differentially-expressed miRNAs.