The role of miR-145, miR-200c, and miR-21 in distinguishing between hyperplastic and adenomatous colon polyps and colorectal cancer prediction.

AIM: To assess whether miRNA expression can be a biomarker for distinguishing between hyperplastic and adenomatous polyps and colon cancer tissues.

METHODS

The study involved 40 colon adenocarcinoma (CA) tissue samples, 40 low-grade adenomatous (A) polyps, and 40 hyperplastic (HP) polyps. The samples were formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reactions were used to determine the expression levels of miR-21, miR-200c, and miR-145.

RESULTS

miR-145 expression was significantly lower in the CA than in both the A and HP groups (P=0.012 and P=0.004, respectively) and in the A than in the HP group (P=0.028). miR-200c expression was higher in the CA than in the A (P=0.008) and HP groups (P=0.009), while no difference was observed between the A and HP groups (P=0.624). miR-21 showed a stepwise increase across the groups, with the highest levels in the CA, followed by the A and HP groups (P<0.001 for both CA vs A and CA vs HP; P=0.037 for A vs HP).

CONCLUSION

The study revealed dysregulated expression of miR-145 and miR-21 in colon polyps and cancer tissue, showing that these miRNAs may be used to distinguish between hyperplastic and adenomatous polyps and predict colorectal cancer.