Early Diagnosis of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) by miR-138 and miR-424-5p Expression as a Cancer Marker

Introduction: MicroRNAs (miRs) are a group of endogenous, non-coding, 18–24 nucleotide length single-strand RNAs. These molecules mediate the gene expression and are involved in regulating diverse cellular biological processes, i.e. cell cycle, differentiation, and apoptosis. Aberrant miR expression has been shown to be an important event in the pathologies of various types of cancer, including oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Methods: Blood samples were obtained from 30 patients (15 cases and 15 controls), to determine miR-138 and miR-424-5p expression by using real-time PCR and ΔΔCT. Results: The median CT values of miR-138 were 27.60 and 28.70, while those of miR 424-5p were 29.40 and 30.0 in the case and control groups, respectively. Mann-Whitney test indicated no significant difference in miR-138 and miR-424-5p between the two groups (P>0.05). However, results obtained by ΔΔCT method showed that miR-424-5p expression was 1.96 times higher in the case group, but miR-138 expression was 3.05 times lower in the plasma of OSCC patients. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the evaluation of miR-138 and miR-424-5p expression in serum can be used as potent markers for carcinoma detection and also may be a potentially therapeutic approach in the future. Further longitudinal studies with larger samples are required to verify these findings.