Droplet digital PCR and qRT-PCR to detect circulating miR-21 in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma and pre-malignant laryngeal lesions

Abstract

Conclusions: The present study indicates that miR-21 is involved in progression from normal to pre-malignant laryngeal lesions (PLLs) and from PLLs to laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC). Furthermore, normalized PCR results for miR-21 might be used to discriminate between normal and ordinary hyperplasia before the emergence of dysplasias and pre-malignant lesions with malignant potential. Objective: To investigate a sensitive marker that contributes to progression from normal tissue to PLLs and from PLLs to LSCC. Methods: In 116 PLLs and LSCC patients and 19 without dysplasia matched sets of tissue and plasma samples from Beijing Tongren Hospital, miR-21 was analysed by droplet digital PCR and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction based on paraffin-embedded tumour tissue and plasma. Results: Compared with controls, miR-21 levels in tissue and plasma were significantly higher for both PLL and LSCC groups (for both groups vs controls: p < 0.0001 for tissue; p < 0.05 for plasma). Areas under receiver-operating curves (AUC) for tissue miR-21 were PLL group vs controls: 0.9026 and LSCC group vs controls: 0.8681. For plasma miR-21, AUCs were PLL group vs controls: 0.7355 and LSCC group vs control: 0.6723.

Keywords:

• Pre-malignant laryngeal lesion
• laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma
• miRNA-21
• droplet digital PCR

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Funding information

This study was supported by the Beijing Tongren Hospital of Capital Medical University and Beijing Key Laboratory of Head and Neck Molecular Diagnostic Pathology. Financial support was received from Technology Innovation Base Training and Development Project of Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission. We are grateful to them.