Abstract

CIRCULATING MICRORNA-146B OVEREXPRESSION AS POTENTIAL BIOMARKER FOR DISTINGUISH BENIGN NODULES FROM PAPILLARY THYROID CARCINOMA

Shoroq Mohammed AL-Temimi, PhD* and Adel Mosa AL-Rekabi, FICMS*

Abstract

Background: MicroRNA-146b is one of the widely studied microRNAs in thyroid cancers and has been shown to be frequently upregulated in papillary thyroid carcinoma and plays a crucial role in tumorigenesis, progression and may become a potential therapeutic target and biomarker of tumor diagnosis and prognosis. Aim of the study: Estimation of microRNA-146b gene expression levels in both serum and fresh tissues of the same patients of solitary thyroid nodule by using stem-loop follow by Taq-Man Real Time PCR technique to distinguish the benign nodule from papillary carcinoma and correlate with age, sex of patients, tumor size, lymph node involvement and stage of tumors. Material and methods: Stem-loop Real Time PCR was performed to identify the level of microRNA-146b gene expression in both serum and fresh tissues of the same patients of solitary thyroid nodule. The expression levels of microRNA-146b were normalized to housekeeping gene by using the livak method. Results: The expression level of serum miR-146b in papillary thyroid carcinoma cases was significantly higher than that benign cases and healthy controls. Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses indicated that use of serum microR-146b have a high diagnostic sensitivity and specificity for papillary thyroid carcinoma in correlated with nodal status and higher stage. Conclusion: The serum miR-146b may be used as novel and minimally invasive diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Keywords: solitary thyroid nodule, serum and fresh tissues, miR-146b, RT-PCR.