Identification and verification of differentially expressed microRNAs and their target genes for the diagnosis of esophageal cancer

Bioinformatic tools were used to analyze {"type":"entrez-geo","attrs":{"text":"GSE6188","term_id":"6188"}}GSE6188, {"type":"entrez-geo","attrs":{"text":"GSE13937","term_id":"13937"}}GSE13937 and {"type":"entrez-geo","attrs":{"text":"GSE43732","term_id":"43732"}}GSE43732 microarrays, and the top 10 upregulated and downregulated genes of each microarray were identified. It was determined that human microRNA (hsa-miR)-1 and hsa-miR-203 were two downregulated genes in common. Subsequently, it was identified that there were 145 and 335 genes in common targeted by hsa-miR-1 and hsa-miR-203, respectively. In order to narrow the number of target genes down further, the target genes were compared with {"type":"entrez-geo","attrs":{"text":"GSE26886","term_id":"26886"}}GSE26886 microarray data. There were five upregulated genes in common with hsa-miR-1, i.e., MMD, BICD1, PTPRG, SDC2 and SEMA6D, and there were eight upregulated genes in common with hsa-miR-203, i.e., PXDN, NRCAM, FMNL2, EIF5A2, GLI3, FSL1, GREM1 and AHR. These genes may become promising biomarkers for the diagnosis of esophageal cancer.