Upregulation of circulating miR130a is correlated with development of Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND: Barrett’s esophagus (BE) is one of the major known risk factors for esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). Circulating miRNAs are emerging as predictive biomarkers for early detection of malignancy. However, the potential for circulating miRNAs to be used as biomarkers for BE neoplastic progression to EAC has not been well characterized. METHOD: We performed a systematic screening approach to identify spectrum miRNAs in the serum of both BE and EAC patients. RESULTS: miRNA-array web-based software identified 116 sequences differentially expressed between BE patients and healthy controls. Subsequent study revealed that miR130a was significantly upregulated in serum samples of BE and EAC patients compared to healthy controls. We found an increase in serum miR130a in low-grade and high-grade dysplasia BE patients compared to individuals with metaplasia. We also observed that miR130a expression levels increased gradually from early-stage (I, II) to advanced-stage (III, IV) EAC patients. CONCLUSION: Our preliminary results provide evidence that circulating miR130a is correlated with the development of BE and EAC.