Five miRNAs as Novel Diagnostic Biomarker Candidates for Primary Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an essential role in the development and progression of nasopharyngeal carcinomas(NPC). Despite advances in the field of cancer molecular biology and biomarker discovery, the development ofclinically validated biomarkers for primary NPC has remained elusive. In this study, we investigated the expressionand clinical significance of miRNAs as novel primary NPC diagnostic biomarkers. We used an array containing 2,500 miRNAs to identify 22 significant miRNAs, and these candidate miRNAs were validated using 67 fresh NPCand 25 normal control tissues via quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Expression and correlation analyseswere performed with various statistical approaches, in addition to logistic regression and receiver operatingcharacteristic curve analyses to evaluate diagnostic efficacy. qRT-PCR revealed five differentially expressedmiRNAs (miR-93-5p, miR-135b-5p, miR-205-5p and miR-183-5p) in NPC tissue samples relative to controlsamples (p<0.05), with miR-135b-5p and miR-205-5p being of significant diagnostic value (p<0.01). Moreover,comparison of NPC patient clinicopathologic data revealed a negative correlation between miR-93-5p and miR-183-5p expression levels and lymph node status (p<0.05). These findings display an altered expression of manymiRNAs in NPC tissues, thus providing information pertinent to pathophysiological and diagnostic research.Ultimately, miR-135b-5p and miR-205-5p may be implicated as novel NPC candidate biomarkers, while miR-93-5p, miR-650 and miR-183-5p may find application as relevant clinical pathology and diagnostic candidatebiomarkers.