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Updated: Apr 14, 2026
MicroRNA Based Liquid Biopsy: The Experience of the Plasma miRNA Signature Classifier MSC for Lung Cancer Screening
Published on: October 26, 2017
Expression of miR-148/152 family as potential biomarkers in non-small-cell lung cancer
Li Li1, Ye-ye Chen1, Shan-qing Li1
1Department of Thoracic Surgery, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China (mainland).
Background:
Altered miR-148/152 family expression contributes to human carcinogenesis. This study was designed to detect the potential for using miR-148/152 family as biomarkers for NSCLC patients.
Material/Methods:
The relative expression levels of miR-148/152 family (miR-148a, miR-148b, and miR-152) in serum of 36 non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) patients, 20 patients with benign pulmonary diseases (BPD), and 10 healthy individuals were assessed by real-time reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR).
Results:
The expression of all three miRNAs were significantly lower in the serum of NSCLC than that of BPD and healthy controls (all p<0.01), and their expression levels were strongly correlated with each other (r=0.781, 0.720, and 0.645, respectively). Downregulation of miR-148/152 family was found to be corrected with more aggressive tumors. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) for miR-148a, miR-148b, and miR-152 discriminating NSCLC from BPD were 0.775, 0.725, and 0.774, respectively, all higher than that of CEA (0.506). Combining the three miRNAs increased the discrimination performance, yielding an AUC of 0.789 (95% confidence interval, 0.643 to 0.895), with a sensitivity of 72.2% and a specificity of 90.0%.
Conclusions:
The results of present study suggest that the expression levels of circulating miR-148/152 family may serve as biomarkers for NSCLC.
