Diagnostic Values of Salivary miRNA-21 for Early Laryngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Objective To explore the diagnostic value of salivary miR-21 for patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma(LSCC).

Methods We collected saliva samples from 20 LSCC patients, 15 vocal cord polyp patients and 15 healthy controls were collected. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR was applied to compare the relative expression of miR-21. The changes of miRNA-21 in six LSCC patients before and six months after operation was compared through monitoring analysis.

Results The expression of salivary miRNA-21 in LSCC patients was significantly higher than that in healthy control group (P=0.036). The diagnostic value of miRNA-21 for LSCC by ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of the miRNA-21 in saliva was 0.792 (95%CI: 0.5353-0.885, P=0.036). The relative expression level of miRNA-21 was significantly decreased in six LSCC patients beforeand six months after operation(P=0.041).

Conclusion miRNA-21 is highly expressed in the saliva of patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma, and it could be used as an indicator of early diagnosis of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma in future.