OncoTargets and Therapy (May 2020)

A Combination of circRNAs as a Diagnostic Tool for Discrimination of Papillary Thyroid Cancer

  • Shi E,
  • Ye J,
  • Zhang R,
  • Ye S,
  • Zhang S,
  • Wang Y,
  • Cao Y,
  • Dai W

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 13
pp. 4365 – 4372

Abstract

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Erlan Shi, Jun Ye, Rong Zhang, Shuai Ye, Suwan Zhang, Yunsheng Wang, Yonghong Cao, Wu Dai Department of Endocrinology, Hefei Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University, The Second People’s Hospital of Hefei, Hefei 230011, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Wu Dai; Yonghong CaoDepartment of Endocrinology, Hefei Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University, The Intersection of Guangde Road and Leshui Road, Hefei 230011, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail [email protected]; [email protected] and Aim: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been highlighted to exert essential biological functions in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). The purpose of this study was explore diagnostic utility of circRNAs in PTC patients.Patients and Methods: The distinctive expression profile of serum circRNAs was determined by individual quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) in two independent cohorts of 113 PTC patients, 80 thyroid nodules, and 111 healthy controls (HCs). A combination of circRNAs (circRNA-based combination index) was constructed by logistic regression.Results: Individual qRT-PCR identification showed that two circRNAs (circRAPGEF5 and hsa_circ_0058124) were significantly up-regulated in PTC patients compared with HCs and thyroid nodules. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis suggested that a combination of circRNAs was superior to individual circRNA in distinguishing PTC patients from HCs and thyroid nodules with area under ROC curve of more than 0.80. Furthermore, the combination of circRNAs increased significantly after systematic treatment, suggesting that it could monitor PTC dynamics. Additionally, the combination of circRNAs was independently correlated with PTC presence.Conclusion: The combination of these altered circRNAs was correlated with PTC and may serve as a novel diagnostic approach.Keywords: circular RNA (circRNA), papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), thyroid nodule, diagnosis, circRAPGEF5, hsa_circ_0058124

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