Introduction: Because of the alarming data concerning lung cancer morbidity and mortality, investigation of new molecular markers allowing early cancer detection is desirable. In the present study, we investigated the potential role of miRNA-3662 precursor (pri-miRNA-3662) as potential novel diagnostic marker of lung adenocarcinoma (AC).
Materials and methods: Expression of miRNA-3662 and pri-miRNA-3662 was analyzed in 56 fresh-frozen tissues of non-small cell lung cancer and corresponding adjacent non-cancerous tissues using (NCT) qRT-PCR. Using receiver operating curves (ROC) analysis, the diagnostic accuracy of both studied markers for AC detection was assessed.
Results: miRNA-3662 and its precursor were significantly overexpressed in AC compared to squamous-cell carcinoma (SCC) and NCT. Combined analysis of pri-miRNA-3662 and mature miRNA-3662 allowed to distinguish AC tissue from SCC with sensitivity of 96% and specificity of 85.7% (AUC = 0.963), and SCC from non-cancerous tissue with 92% sensitivity and 92% specificity (AUC = 0.979).
Conclusions: miRNA-3662 and its precursor are potentially involved in AC development. pri-miRNA seem to be novel interesting group of potential cancer biomarkers, because they demonstrate high diagnostic accuracy for tumor detection.
Keywords: Adenocarcinoma; Lung cancer; miRNA; pri-miRNA.