Maruyama S, Furuya S, Shiraishi K, Shimizu H, Akaike H, Hosomura N, Kawaguchi Y, Amemiya H, Kawaida H, Sudo M, Inoue S, Kono H, Ichikawa D. miR-122-5p as a novel biomarker for alpha-fetoprotein-producing gastric cancer. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2018; 10(10): 344-350 [PMID: 30364858 DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v10.i10.344]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Daisuke Ichikawa, MD, PhD, Professor, First Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine University of Yamanashi, 1110 Shimokato, Chuou, Yamanashi 409-3898, Japan. dichikawa@yamanashi.ac.jp
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Basic Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Suguru Maruyama, Shinji Furuya, Kensuke Shiraishi, Hiroki Shimizu, Hidenori Akaike, Naohiro Hosomura, Yoshihiko Kawaguchi, Hidetake Amemiya, Hiromichi Kawaida, Makoto Sudo, Shingo Inoue, Hiroshi Kono, Daisuke Ichikawa, First Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi 409-3898, Japan
Author contributions: Maruyama S performed the majority of experiments and wrote the manuscript; Furuya S performed the research; Shiraishi K, Akaike H and Kawaguchi Y provided tissue samples and clinical data; Shimizu H, Hosomura N, Amemiya H, Kawaida H, Sudo M, Inoue S and Kono H made substantial contributions to the data analysis and interpretation; Ichikawa D designed the research and helped to draft the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Yamanashi University (approved number: 1825) and was performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Daisuke Ichikawa, MD, PhD, Professor, First Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine University of Yamanashi, 1110 Shimokato, Chuou, Yamanashi 409-3898, Japan. dichikawa@yamanashi.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-55-2737390 Fax: +81-55-2737390
Received: July 4, 2018 Peer-review started: July 5, 2018 First decision: July 24, 2018 Revised: August 5, 2018 Accepted: August 30, 2018 Article in press: August 31, 2018 Published online: October 15, 2018
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)-producing gastric cancer (AFPGC) is recognized as one of the most aggressive tumors, with a high propensity for liver metastasis and subsequent poor prognosis compared with other GC subtypes. Recent comprehensive molecular analyses have not yet referred to this minor subtype because of its rareness.
Research motivation
To discover universal biomarkers for liver metastasis by researching AFPGC-specific microRNAs (miRNAs).
Research objectives
To investigate the clinical utility of AFPGC-specific miRNA for monitoring and prognostic prediction of patients.
Research methods
We performed a comprehensive miRNA array-based approach to compare miRNA expression levels between AFP-positive and AFP-negative cells, and also investigated the clinical utility of the identified AFPGC-specific miRNAs.
Research results
We found the expression of miR-122-5p was significantly higher in the AFPGC tissues than the normal and non-AFPGC tissues. The expression levels of this miRNA were also higher in the plasma samples of patients with AFPGC compared with those of healthy volunteers and non-AFPGC patients and correlated with plasma AFP levels. Moreover, the tissue expression level of miR-122-5p exhibited a stronger correlation with malignant potential than plasma AFP level in AFPGC patients.
Research conclusions
miR-122-5p as a potentially useful biomarker for early detection and disease monitoring in patients with AFPGC.
Research perspectives
We identified miR-122-5p as AFPGC-specific miRNA. miR-122-5p might be a clinical useful biomarker in AFPGC. Although studies are warranted to demonstrate the biological function underlying altered expression of miR-122-5p in AFPGC, the miR-122-5p might be a potential therapeutic target for liver metastasis in AFPGC.
