Novel MiRNA Markers and Their Mechanism of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma (ESCC) based on TCGA

Abstract Background MiRNAs are promising biomarkers for early ESCC detection and prognostic prediction. This study aimed to explore the potential biomarkers and molecular pathogenesis in early diagnosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Results 48 differentical expressed miRNAs (DEMs) and 1319 differentical expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between 94 ESCC tissues and 13 normal esophageal tissues in TCGA. Among 6558 target genes of the 48 DEMs, 400 are also in 1319 DEGs. Top GO and KEGG enrichment of these 400 DEGs includes cell cycle, proteoglycans in cancer, p53 signaling pathway, protein digestion and absorption, transcriptional dysregulation in cancer, and oocyte meiosis, where 66 DEGs are in these six biological pathways, called GO-DEGs. In total, 32 DEMs downregulated these 66 GO-DEGs, where 22 DEMs were verified by different types of experiments in ESCC tissues, cells or serum from literature. For the other 10 DEMs, only hsa-miR-34b-3p showed no significant correlation with the overall survival of ESCC patients by single-factor cox regression analysis. Novel nine DEMs related to ESCC were: three down-regulated (hsa-miR-215-5p, hsa-miR-194-3p, hsa-miR-29b-2-5p), and six up-regulated (hsa-miR-944, hsa-miR-205-3p, hsa-miR-4652-5p, hsa-miR-452-3p, hsa-miR-6499-3p, and hsa-miR-767-5p). Conclusion This study identified nine novel miRNA markers potentially related to the diagnosis of ESCC (hsa-miR-944, hsa-miR-205-3p, hsa-miR-4652-5p, hsa-miR-452-3p, hsa-miR-6499-3p, hsa-miR-767-5p, hsa-miR-215-5p, hsa-miR-194-3p, hsa-miR-29b-2-5p) and participated in the occurrence and development of ESCC through cell cycle, proteoglycans in cancer, p53 signaling pathway, protein digestion and absorption, transcriptional dysregulation in cancer, and signaling pathway for oocyte meiosis.