Association of miR-372 and miR-137 Expression with Metastasis in Patients with Lung Cancer

Introduction: Identification of metastatic miRNAs and understanding their complex functions provides prognostic and diagnostic bio markers In this study, the expression of miR-372, fgf-9 gene, miR-137 and cdc42 gene was evaluated in the serum of patients with lung cancer. Materials and Methods: In the present study, 50 serum samples were collected from healthy individuals and 50 serum samples from people with NSCLC from Masih Daneshvari Hospital in Tehran. Clinicopathological information was collected through questionnaires. In the molecular study, changes in expression of miR-372, miR-137, fgf-9 and cdc42 genes in healthy individuals and those with lung cancer were evaluated using Real Time PCR. Results: Expression of miR-372, fgf-9 and cdc42 genes in the first to third stage serum of metastases and expression of miR-137 in serum of the first and second stages of the disease were not significantly different from the normal one. However, in the serum of the fourth stage of the disease, expression of miR-372 and cdc42 gene were significantly increased by 7.3 and 3.4 folds than normal subjects, while in the serum of the fourth stage of the disease, the expression of fgf-9 gene was significantly reduced by 4.46 fold .The expression of miR-137 in the serum of the third and fourth stages of the disease was significantly reduced by 3.2 and 6.8 fold compared to the normal serum Conclusion: It is likely that the expression of miR-372, miR-137, fgf-9 and cdc42 genes in human serum could be used to predict the stage of lung cancer metastasis.