Identification of circulating microRNAs for the diagnosis of early-stage gastric cancer.

33Background: The development of gastric cancer (GC) is a stepwise progression from non-active gastritis (NAG), chronic active gastritis (CAG) and precursor lesions of GC (PLGC: atrophy, metaplasia). Early detection of GC improves survival rates. Recent evidence has proposed circulating microRNAs (c-miRNAs) as biomarkers. The aim was to explore the c-miRNA profile of a cohort of non-GC and GC patients in order to identify early biomarkers of GC. Methods: Thirty-eight patients were enrolled: ten with NAG, nine with H. pylori infected with CAG, eight with PLGC, and ten with GC. GC patients were at TNM stages I and II. As quality controls, synthetic RNA was added during the isolation, cDNA synthesis, and PCR steps. MiRNA profiling was performed using Exiqon Human Panel I. Exploratory significance was set at P<0.05 with fold change (FC)≥1.6. Results: Of the total of 372 miRNAs analyzed, 154 miRNAs were detected in all samples. miR-185-5p was used to normalize. Compared to NAG individuals, GC patients showed d...