Background: Hsa-mir-92a acts as an onco-miRNA and may contribute to the progression and invasion of cervical cancer, which is a common malignant tumor in women worldwide. The objective of the present study was to evaluate whether serum hsa-mir-92a could serve as a diagnostic biomarker for cervical cancer patients.
Methods: The expression levels of hsa-mir-92a were analyzed in the serum of patients with CIN I, CIN II, CIN III, cervical cancer Ia - IIa and compared with those of the control group samples. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic significance of cervical cancer.
Results: It was found that the expression of hsa-miR-92a in the serum of individuals with CIN or cervical cancer was significantly higher than that in healthy volunteers (p < 0.01). The expression of hsa-miR-92a was higher in the serum of patients with advanced stage and cervical cancer than those with early stage. ROC analysis revealed that the cutoff value of hsa-mir-92a was 1.52 for the diagnosis of CIN and cervical cancer. The sensitivity and specificity were 69.6% and 80.4%, respectively, and an area under the curve (AUC) was 0.83.
Conclusions: hsa-mir-92a up-regulation was associated with cervical cancer and the serum level of hsa-mir-92a could be used as an independent marker for the diagnosis of cervical cancer.