Objective: To search for differentially expressed microRNAs in circulation and to explore their potential application as non-invasive biomarkers for bladder urothelial carcinoma.
Methods: Six bladder urothelial carcinoma patients were recruited into this study, and blood from seven non-tumor patients was included as the controls. Total small RNAs were isolated from the blood. By using high-throughput sequencing technologies, we provided microRNA expression profiles of bladder urothelial carcinoma patients and the control group. The data were analyzed using T test of the SPSS17.0 software to study the expression differences of microRNAs between the two groups.
Results: The work identified some microRNAs with differential expression in circulation between the bladder urothelial carcinoma patients and the non-tumor patients. Five microRNAs (hsa-miR-378g, hsa-miR-942, hsa-miR-106a-5p, hsa-miR-142-3p and hsa-miR-374a) were identified to be upregulated in the patients, and the expressions of many other microRNAs were significantly downregulated.
Conclusion: The study reveals that there is a variance of microRNA expression profile in circulation between bladder urothelial and non neoplastic populations,The results need further study by large samples.