Abstract
Exosomal miRNAs have been studied in various cancers as minimally invasive biomarkers. This study aimed to investigate the potential of exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs) as biomarkers for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Exosomes were isolated from cultures of esophageal epithelial cell and ESCC cell lines using ExoDisc, and exosomal miRNAs were detected via miRNA sequencing. Of the differentially expressed 14 miRNAs, the top 2 up-regulated miRNAs (miR-205-5p and miR-429) and top 2 down-regulated miRNAs (miR-375-3p and miR-483-3p) were selected as ESCC target miRNAs. Four selected exosomal miRNAs were validated in the plasma of 20 healthy controls (HCs) and 40 ESCC patients via quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The expression of plasma exosomal miR-205-5p and miR-429 significantly increased, while that of plasma exosomal miR-375-3p was significantly reduced in ESCC patients compared to that in HCs. At cut-off values of 5.04, 2.564, and 0.136, the sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of ESCC were 72.5% and 70.0% for miR-205-5p, 60.0% and 60.0% for miR-429, and 65.0% and 65.0% for miR-375-3p, respectively. Based on the exosomal miRNAs identified in ESCC cell lines, our study demonstrated that plasma exosomal miR-205-5p, miR-429, and miR-375-3p could serve as potential biomarkers for ESCC diagnosis.