Study of the Expression of miR-4270 in Plasma of Patients with Breast Invasive Ductal Carcinoma

Detection of tumor-specific microRNAs (miRs) in the blood of cancer patients may provide a unique and valuable biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis. The aim of this study was to investigate whether plasma levels of microRNA-4270 could serve as a potential marker for breast invasive ductal carcinoma. A total of 40 breast cancer patients and 28 controls were recruited in this study. Total RNA was extracted from plasma samples and miR-4270 expression was evaluated by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The correlation between miR-4270 expression and clinico-pathological characteristics were also studied. Our data showed that plasma miR-4270 is significantly upregulated in patients compared to control group (P-value=0.00). In addition, data analysis illustrated a correlation between low plasma levels of miR-4270 and larger tumor size, lymph node metastasis and higher stages of malignancy (P-value 0.05). The area under the curve of the ROC revealed that miR-4270 expression was not able to distinguish between tumor plasmas and nontumoral specimens. Current work shows preliminary data on the expression profile of miR-4270 in plasma of breast cancer patients. However, further studies are required to fully elucidate the role of circulating mir-4270 in breast ductal carcinoma.