Investigation of potential biomarkers associated with relapse in cervical cancer: miRNA-320a-3p and miRNA-136-5p
Micro ribonucleic acids (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNA molecules that control the expression of target mRNAs. Many miRNAs are dysregulated in various cancers, acting as tumor suppressors or oncogenes. This study aims to investigate the regulatory status of miRNA-320a-3p and miRNA-136-5p in cervical cancer development as well as their predictive significance for treatment response and disease recurrence. Included in the study were 51 cervical cancer patients and 19 healthy controls. Expression levels of miRNA-320a-3p and miRNA-136-5p were detected using miRNA-specific quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The relative expression of miRNAs was calculated using the 2 miRNA-136-5p was downregulated in the cervical cancer patients compared to the controls (fold change: -3.06, p = 0.000239). In the case group, upregulation of miRNA-320a-3p was significantly associated with a poor treatment response (fold change: 1.88, p = 0.0264). Additionally, higher expression of miRNA-320a-3p was observed in patients with locoregionally confined recurrence both in the evaluation based on initial recurrence patterns (fold change: 1.38, p = 0.0341) and at last follow-up (fold change: 2.56, p = 0.000582). miRNA-136-5p can be proposed as a biomarker in cervical tumorigenesis, while miRNA-320a-3p can be used for treatment response and locoregional recurrence prediction.