Recently, liquid biopsy has emerged as a promising tool for the identification of
potential diagnosis, prognosis and/or predictive biomarkers in blood of patients with
many different diseases, including cancer. MicroRNAs are among that potential
biomarkers, and when deregulated, could contribute to the development of various types
of cancer, such as gastric cancer. The literature demonstrates an association of miR-218
expression as a potential tumor suppressor associated with gastric cancer progression.
However, only one previous study in Asiatic population evaluated the expression of
circulating miR-218 in the serum of patients vs control. Therefore, the aim of this study
was to evaluate the expression of miR-218 in the serum of patients with gastric cancer
and its correlation with clinical-pathological characteristics. Samples were collected
from 302 patients and 120 healthy subjects for analysis of mirR-218 expression by
Real-Time Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction. The results demonstrated
decreased expression of miR-218 in the serum of patients with gastric cancer in
association with health subjects. In addition, the reduction of miR-218 expression was
significantly associated with tumor invasion, presence of lymph node metastases,
Lauren’s diffuse type, advanced stages of cancer, indicating worse prognosis. Therefore,
corroborating with findings from the literature, theses results suggest the potential use
of miR-218 in serum as a prognostic biomarker in gastric cancer patients.
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