Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) latently infected by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) expresses 40 EBV BART microRNAs (miRNAs). Difference in diagnostic efficacy of these miRNAs on NPC detection was observed. Here, we performed a comprehensive evaluation on the efficacy of these miRNAs.
Methods: Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was performed on plasma nucleic acid isolated from patients with NPC and noncancer donors.
Results: For primary NPC, BART2-5P, BART6-3P, BART7-3P, BART7-5P, BART9-5P, BART11-3P, BART17-5P, and BART19-5P were significantly elevated. For recurrent NPC, plasma levels of BART2-3P, BART2-5P, BART5-3P, BART5-5P, BART6-3P, BART8-3P, BART9-5P, BART17-5P, BART19-3P, and BART20-3P were significantly increased. Area under curve (AUC) analysis showed that BART19-5P had the best performance to identify NPC which was serologically EBV DNA undetectable. For recurrent NPC, BART8-3P and BART10-3P had highest AUC value for identifying cancer in EBV DNA undetectable plasma.
Conclusion: Our data supported the use of circulating EBV miRNAs in NPC and recurrent NPC detection.
Keywords: EBV DNA; EBV-encoded microRNA; Epstein-Barr virus; circulating nucleic acid; nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.