Page 60 - SDIR5 Abstract book 21 12 2021.

POSTER PRESENTATIONS

P20

Diagnostic and prognostic potential of miR-146 gene expression in oral carcinoma

1
2,3
1
Miodrag Vukovic , Goran Stojkovic , Katarina Zeljic
1 Faculty of Biology – University of Belgrade, Serbia
2 Clinic for Otorhinolaryngology and Maxillofacial Surgery, University Clinical Center Serbia, Serbia
3 Faculty of Medicine – University of Belgrade, Serbia

Background: Micro non-coding RNA, miR-146a, has not fully elucidated role in oral carcinoma. There are
still conflicting results in the literature regarding its oncogenic or tumor suppressor role. The potential of
using miR-146a as a sensitive discriminator of cancerous from non-cancerous tissue as well as prognostic
biomarker is not studied so far. We aimed to test whether miR-146a acts as an oncogene or tumor
suppressor, and analyze its diagnostic and prognostic potential in oral carcinoma. Material and Methods:
Clinical samples of oral carcinoma and its normal tissue counterparts were obtained from 35 patients.
Relative expression of miR-146a was performed by Real Time PCR. RNU6B was used for normalization.
Results were calculated by 2 -∆Ct method. Results: There were no significant differences in miR-146a
expression in cancer and non-cancerous tissue (p=0.272, Wilcoxon signed test). miR-146a is not good
discriminatory biomarker of oral cancer from non-cancerous counterparts according to receiver operating
curve analysis (AUC=0.560, 95%CI=0.424-0.696, p=0.388). None of demographic and clinicopathological
characteristics were associated with miR-146a expression. There was no difference in survival among oral
carcinoma patients with high and low expressed miR-146a (p=0.362, log-rank test). Results of cox
regression analysis revealed that miR-146a cannot be considered as a prognostic biomarker of oral
carcinoma (HR=0.460, 95%CI=0.077-2.755, p=0.395). Conclusion: According to our findings, it is still
inconclusive whether miR-146a is an oncogene or tumor suppressor. Our results showed that miR-146a is
not satisfactory discriminatory biomarker of oral cancer from non-cancerous tissue. miR-146a can not be
used as a prognostic biomarker of oral carcinoma.
Keywords: biomarker, expression, miR-146a

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