Forms of Diagnostic Material As Sources of MiRNA Biomarkers in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: a Preliminary Study

To assess the diagnostic value of selected miRNAs from various material collected from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Tissue, serum, urine and fecal samples from HCC patients and healthy individuals were screened for associated miRNAs using microarray analysis; the selected miRNAs were then validated by real time-quantitative PCR on 65 patients. Serum miR-122, a combination of serum miR-155 with miR-885-5p, a combination of urinary miR-532-3p with miR-765, and fecal miR-320a displayed 100% efficiency in discriminating patients from controls. A combination of urinary miR-532-3p and miR-765 allowed patients with neoplastic grade G3 to be distinguished from those with G1 and G2. Additionally to serum, urine and feces also appeared to be valuable source of potential HCC noninvasive miRNA biomarkers.