Extracellular vesicles miR-210 as a potential biomarker for diagnosis and survival prediction of oral squamous cell carcinoma patients

Background The identification of early diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is an unmet clinical need. We hypothesized that extracellular vesicles miR-210 expression (EV-miR-210) could be a potential biomarker for OSCC diagnosis and follow-up. Methods The expression of EV-miR-210 was measured in the plasma of OSCC patients (n = 30) and compared to that of controls (n = 14). Results The median EV-miR-210 expression was significantly higher in OSCC patients compared to controls who had often, undetectable levels (p < 0.0001). We performed receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis for discriminating OSCC cases from controls. EV-miR-210 yielded an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.9513 with sensitivity 92.3% and specificity 86.6%. Kaplan-Meier curves indicated that high EV-miR-210 expression was associated with worse 3 years' survival (p < 0.05). Cox regression hazard model indicated that high EV-miR-210, G2, and G3 grading and pathological nodal status (pN)>1 were independent predictors of worse survival in OSCC patients. Conclusion These preliminary data suggest that EV-mir-210 may be a novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in OSCC.

Automated summary

The expression of EV-miR-210 is significantly elevated in OSCC patients, showing potential as a diagnostic biomarker with high sensitivity and specificity. High EV-miR-210 expression is associated with worse 3-year survival, along with G2 and G3 grading and pN status being independent predictors of poor survival in OSCC patients.