Role of exosomal miRNA-19a/19b and PTEN in brain tumor diagnosis

Abstract

Aim: The current study was designed to evaluate the diagnostic significance of the exosomal miRNAs miR-19a and miR-19b and the PTEN gene in brain tumor patients versus controls. Methods: Exosomes were extracted from the serum samples of 400 brain tumor patients and 400 healthy controls. The exosomes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering and ELISA. Quantitative PCR was used to analyze selected exosome miRNAs and gene expression levels. Results: Analysis showed significant deregulated expression of miR-19a (p < 0.0001), miR-19b (p < 0.0001) and PTEN (p < 0.001) in patients versus controls. Spearman correlation showed a significant correlation among the selected exosomal miRNAs and the PTEN gene. Conclusion: Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed the good diagnostic value of exosomal miRNAs and the PTEN gene in brain tumor patients.

Keywords::

• biomarker
• brain tumor
• exosome
• glioblastoma
• miR-19a
• miR-19b
• miR-17-92 cluster
• PTEN

Author contributions

All of the authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript. NS Ashraf, MZ Hussain and MS Haris collected and isolated the RNA samples and performed characterization experiments. NS Ashraf, M Rizwan, M Arshad and A Mehmood performed the expression analysis experiments. I Mahjabeen performed statistical analyses of the data and write the final draft of the manuscript. MA Kayani and I Mahjabeen supervised the project and provided critical revisions. All the authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the patients and staff of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Islamabad) and Brain Surgery Hospital Rawalpindi for their contribution to this research.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.