Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is considered one of the most aggressive malignancies worldwide, with high mortality and morbidity rates because of its asymptomatic nature at the early stages. Further, CRC is affected by ethnicity and environmental factors. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) dysregulation has a high impact on CRC development and progression, thus this study was conducted to explore hsa-miR-181a-5p expression level in the sera of Egyptian CRC patients and assess its clinical utility.
Methods: Relative hsa-miR-181a-5p expression level was determined using quantitative real-time PCR in 192 specimens collected from 160 CRC patients and 32 healthy subjects.
Results: Hsa-miR-181a-5p relative expression was significantly up-regulated in CRC patients compared to controls and was found to be associated with increased susceptibility to CRC. Moreover, the expression level of hsa-miR-181a-5p had a powerful diagnostic performance to detect CRC, although it is still inferior to that of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and cancer antigen 19.9 (CA 19.9).
Conclusion: Over-expressed hsa-miR-181a-5p may contribute to the pathogenesis of CRC, and it seems to be a valuable diagnostic biomarker to discriminate between CRC patients and healthy subjects.