Serum miR-663 expression and the diagnostic value in colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common digestive cancers leading to deaths worldwide. In this study, we aimed to investigate the diagnostic value of miR-663 in CRC. The expression of miR-663 was detected by quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The association between miR-663 and clinical parameters of subjects was evaluated by chi-square test. Additionally, ROC (receiver operating characteristic) analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic role of miR-663 in CRC. The expression of miR-663 in CRC patients was significantly upregulated compared with benign colorectal disease patients and healthy controls (p < .01). Besides, the expression of miR-663 was significantly associated with tumour differentiation, invasion, lymph node metastasis and TNM stage (p < .05). The cutoff value of miR-663 was 1.31, and the corresponding sensitivity and specificity were 83.1% and 73.8%, respectively. In ROC analysis, the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.806, which indicated that miR-663 could act as an independent diagnostic biomarker for CRC. In conclusion, miR-663 was up-regulated in CRC patients and may be an effective biomarker for CRC diagnosis.