Diagnosis value of miR-181, miR-652, and CA72-4 for gastric cancer

To find a useful disease marker for early diagnosis of gastric cancer, we tried to explore the expression of serum miR-181, miR-652, and carbohydrate antigen 72-4 (CA72-4).

According to clinical pathologic stages, 112 patients with gastric cancer were divided into early gastric cancer group (n = 60) and advanced gastric cancer group (n = 52), stage I-II (n = 65), and stage III-IV (n = 47). Another 50 cases of gastric benign lesions and 40 healthy controls were also selected. Real-time quantitative PCR together with chemiluminescence were applied to detect expression levels. ROC curve was applied to judge their diagnostic efficiency. Pearson's correlation analysis was put into use to investigate the relevance of three indicators.

Compared with benign lesions group and control group, significantly higher expression levels were found in patients of gastric cancer (all p < 0.001). Similarly, compared with early gastric cancer group, significantly higher expression levels were found in advanced gastric cancer group (all p < 0.001). The same result was also found in stage III-IV (all p < 0.001). The best cutoff values were 0.93, 2.38, and 16.94 U/ml, respectively. The area under the curve (0.917, 95%CI: 0.856-0.975) of the three combined diagnosis of early gastric cancer was the largest, and its sensitivity and specificity were 92.5% and 86.8%. And miR-181 and miR-652 were positively correlated with CA72-4 (r = 0.772, p < 0.001, r = 0.853, p < 0.001).

Serum miR-181, miR-652, and CA72-4 are closely linked to the occurrence and development of gastric cancer. Combination of three indicators has diagnostic value for early gastric cancer.