Background: Current diagnostic procedures of cancers are invasive and non-specific. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have become promising molecular markers for gastric cancer (GC) predication. However, there have been inconsistencies in the literature regarding the suitability of circulating miRNAs for early detection of cancers.
Methods: We performed a comprehensive meta-analysis to integrate an evaluation index for diagnostic accuracy of miR-223 in diagnosing cancer patients. Furthermore, we conducted an independent validation set of 50 gastric cancer patients and 50 healthy controls comparing miR-223 expression. We also analyzed miR-223 expression in vitro.
Results: A total of 11 studies met the inclusion criteria and therefore included in this meta-analysis. We found that miR-223 yielded a pooled area under ROC curve (AUC) of 0.89 (sensitivity: 81%, specificity: 84%) in discriminating cancer from controls. In our validation test, plasma miR-223 levels in GC patients were significantly higher than that in healthy controls (P<0.01). ROC curve analysis showed that AUC was 0.812 with a sensitivity of 70% and specificity of 80%. Moreover, the expression trend of miR-223 in plasma samples was in accordance with that of tissue and cell samples.
Conclusion: Current evidences suggested that plasma miR-223 could be a reliable and non-invasive biomarker for cancer diagnosis. Further large-scale prospective studies are necessary to validate their potential applicability in human cancer diagnosis.
Keywords: biomarker; cancer; diagnosis; meta-analysis; miR-223.