Upregulation of miRNA-155 in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients

BACKGROUND: The upregulation of miRNA-155 (miR-155) has been associated with oncogenesis of many human tumors, including nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). However, the profile of miR-155 in Vietnamese NPC patients has not been investigated. The current study aimed to evaluate the miR-155 expression and assess whether miR-155 is a potential biomarker for diagnosis of NPC in Vietnamese patients. METHODS: In current case-control study, total of RNA was isolated from 60 biopsy NPC samples and 60 non-cancerous swab samples were analyzed by Reverse-transcription PCR, qualitative Real-time PCR. RESULTS: The frequency of miR-155 detection were 78.33%, 15.0% in NPC and non-cancerous samples (P<0.05), respectively. The miR-155 expression level was 4.92 times higher in tumor samples than non-cancerous sample. CONCLUSION: Taken together, miR-155 in NPC was upregulated. It may serve as a potential biomarker for NPC in the Vietnamese population.