Evaluation of miR-181 and Caprin-1 expression changes in tumoral specimens and normal margin of gastric cancer

Abstract

Improving of diagnostic strategies is one of the most important challenges in gastric cancer (GC) management. Therefore, identifying of gene expression profiles that can be translated into potential biomarkers is a necessity in this disease. According to this and to improve the understanding of the mechanisms that cause gastric cancer, this study was conducted with the aim of determining the expression profile of miR-181a and Caprin-1 in tumoral and normal gastric tissues. Methods: The tissue samples, including 75 gastric tumoral tissue specimens and 75 adjacent non-cancerous tissue specimens (normal margin), were provided and subjected to RNA extraction. The complementary DNA was synthesized, and then miR-181a and Caprin-1 expression levels were quantified using q-PCR. Besides, the relation between miR-181a and Caprin-1 expression and clinicopathological characteristics of patients was assessed. Results: The results obtained from q-PCR evidenced that both miR-181a and Caprin-1 exhibit significant expression levels (p=0.0001) in GC samples compared to adjacent non-cancerous tissues. Moreover, Caprin-1 was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis (p=0.0041) and tumor stage (p=0.023). However, miR-181a showed no significant correlation with clinicopathological characteristics of patients.