Identification and verification of differentially expressed microRNAs and their target genes for the diagnosis of esophageal cancer

Bioinformatic tools were used to analyze GSE6188, GSE13937 and GSE43732 microarrays, and the top 10 upregulated and downregulated genes of each microarray were identified. It was determined that human microRNA (hsa-miR)-1 and hsa-miR-203 were two downregulated genes in common. Subsequently, it was identified that there were 145 and 335 genes in common targeted by hsa-miR-1 and hsa-miR-203, respectively. In order to narrow the number of target genes down further, the target genes were compared with GSE26886 microarray data. There were five upregulated genes in common with hsa-miR-1, i.e., MMD, BICD1, PTPRG, SDC2 and SEMA6D, and there were eight upregulated genes in common with hsa-miR-203, i.e., PXDN, NRCAM, FMNL2, EIF5A2, GLI3, FSL1, GREM1 and AHR. These genes may become promising biomarkers for the diagnosis of esophageal cancer.