Serum ROCK1 mRNA is of great diagnostic value for glioma patients

The study aimed to measure the presence of rho-associated protein kinase 1 (ROCK1) mRNA in serum samples collected from glioma and investigate its diagnostic significance in glioma. The presence of ROCK1 mRNA was examined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The relationship between ROCK1 mRNA and clinical characteristics was analyzed via Chi-square test. The criteria of diagnosis evaluation, including sensitivity, specificity, optimal cutoff point, and area under the curve (AUC) were determined through the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. ROCK1 mRNA was significantly increased in serum samples collected from glioma patients compared to the controls (P <.05). Besides, high ROCK1 mRNA expression was tightly related with Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) score (P = .024) and World Health Organization (WHO) grade (P = .029). However, there was no association between ROCK1 expression and gender, neurological disorders, family history and cigarette smoking (all, P >.05). In addition, the optimal cutoff point was 3.025, with the sensitivity and specificity of 88.89% and 79.25%, respectively. The AUC was 0.881, indicating that ROCK1 was a diagnostic biomarker for glioma patients (P <.0001, 95% CI = 0.829–0.933). Serum ROCK1 mRNA is significantly up-regulated in glioma cases compared to healthy controls. ROCK1 may be a potential diagnostic biomarker in glioma.