Identification of stably expressed reference small non-coding RNAs for microRNA quantification in high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma tissues

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) belong to a family of small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) playing important roles in human carcinogenesis. Multiple investigations reported miRNAs aberrantly expressed in several cancers, including high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGS-OvCa). Quantitative PCR is widely used in studies investigating miRNA expression and the identification of reliable endogenous controls is crucial for proper data normalization. In this study, we aimed to experimentally identify the most stable reference sncRNAs for normalization of miRNA qPCR expression data in HGS-OvCa. Eleven putative reference sncRNAs for normalization (U6, SNORD48, miR-92a-3p, let-7a-5p, SNORD61, SNORD72, SNORD68, miR-103a-3p, miR-423-3p, miR-191-5p, miR-16-5p) were analysed on a total of 75 HGS-OvCa and 30 normal tissues, using a highly specific qPCR. Both the normal tissues considered to initiate HGS-OvCa malignant transformation, namely ovary and fallopian tube epithelia, were included in our study. Stability of candidate endogenous controls was evaluated using an equivalence test and validated by geNorm and NormFinder algorithms. Combining results from the three different statistical approaches, SNORD48 emerged as stably and equivalently expressed between malignant and normal tissues. Among malignant samples, considering groups based on residual tumour, miR-1915p was identified as the most equivalent sncRNA. On the basis of our results, we support the use of SNORD48 as best reference sncRNA for relative quantification in miRNA expression studies between HGS-OvCa and normal controls, including the first time both the normal tissues supposed to be HGS-OvCa progenitors. In addition, we recommend miR-191-5p as best reference sncRNA in miRNA expression studies with prognostic intent on HGS-OvCa tissues.