Project description:41% of all oral carcinomas have been found to localize at tongue, where they were characterized as being aggressive and having capacity to locally invade and relapse frequently. Despite considerable enhancements in the cancer diagnosis and treatment techniques, tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) still remains to be one of the most common and lethal cancer types in the head and neck region. In this study, we aimed to identify a signature of saliva-specific microRNAs (miRNAs) expression in TSCC patients. To explore putative diagnostic biomarkers, we compared the miRNA profiles of saliva samples obtained from 3 TSCC patients and 4 healthy control individual using Agilent miRNA microarray (V19). Three of the differentially expressed miRNAs were selected for further validation with quantitative reverse-transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) using saliva samples of 25 TSCC patients and 25 healthy control individuals. Microarray analysis demonstrated that 428 miRNA probes were deregulated in TSCC patients when compared to control group and qRT-PCR results validated the reduced expression of miR-139-5p in TSCC saliva. Further analysis of post-operative saliva samples of TSCC patients revealed that miR-139-5p level elevated to normal level after surgery, pointing its diagnostic and prognostic power. As a conclusion, we propose saliva as a feasible source in routine patient examination for early diagnosis of TSCC patients, and our results suggest saliva miR-139-5p as a novel potential diagnostic marker.
Project description:DNA methylation profiling of heterogeneous head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cohorts has been reported to predict patient outcome. We investigated if a prognostic DNA methylation profile could be found in tumour tissue from a single uniform subsite, the oral tongue. The methylation status of 83 comprehensively annotated oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples from a single institution were examined with the Illumina HumanMethylation450K (HM450K) array.
