The clinical assessment of miR-34a and miR-135b panel as promising diagnostic biomarkers predict the risk of colorectal cancer: A case-control study.

BackgroundmiRNAs are of interest due to have been involved in cancers such as colorectal cancer (CRC).ObjectiveTo explore the expression levels of miRNA-34a and miRNA-135b and whether they can be potential biomarker for early diagnosis of CRC.MethodsFifteen pairs newly diagnosed colorectal cancer and normal involved in the measurement of tissue and serum levels of miRNAs 34a and 135b and their target genes of SIRT1 and DAPK-1. We assessed the predictive value of these miRNAs utilizing the receiver operating characteristic curve.ResultsThe findings have shown that the miRNA-34a expression was significantly downregulated and miRNA-135b was upregulated in CRC tissues in comparison to their expression in adjacent normal tissue. This was additionally observed in the serum of the same CRC cases when compared to individuals without CRC. Furthermore, we found a significant increase in the level of SIRT-1 and a significant reduction in the expression level of DAPK-1 in CRC tissues compared to the adjacent normal tissue. The value of AUC was considerably high for the timely detection of CRC.ConclusionsWe found these miRNAs acting as potential non-invasive biomarkers for the early detection of CRC and in assessing the CRC risk within the general population.