To study the role of pre‐treatment microRNA (micro ribonucleic acid) expression as a predictor of response to chemoradiation in locally advanced carcinoma cervix

BACKGROUND: Concurrent chemoradiotherapy followed by brachytherapy is the standard of care in locally advanced carcinoma cervix. There is no prognostic factor at present to predict the outcome of disease in locally advanced carcinoma cervix. AIM: Differential expression of microRNAs can be used as biomarkers to predict clinical response in locally advanced carcinoma cervix patients. METHODS: Thirty‐two patients of locally advanced carcinoma cervix with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics Stage IB‐IVA were enrolled from 2017 to 2018. Expression of microRNA‐9 5p, ‐31 3p, ‐100 5p, ‐125a 5p, ‐125b‐5p, and –200a 5p in formalin‐fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) biopsied tissue were analyzed by real time quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT qPCR). Pretreatment evaluation was done with clinical examination and MRI pelvis. All patients received concurrent chemoradiotherapy followed by brachytherapy. Patients were evaluated for the clinical response after 3 months of treatment, with clinical examination and MRI pelvis scan using RECIST 1.1 criteria. Patients with no residual disease were classified as Complete responders (CR) and with residual or progressive disease were classified as Nonresponders (NR). Results were statistically analyzed using Mann Whiney U test to examine significant difference between the expression of microRNA between complete responders (CR) and nonresponders (NR). RESULTS: microRNA‐100 5p was upregulated in complete responders (CR) which showed a trend towards statistical significance (p value = 0.05). CONCLUSION: microRNA‐100 5p can serve as a potential molecular biomarker in predicting clinical response to chemoradiation in locally advanced Carcinoma cervix. Its role should be further investigated in a larger study population.