The abnormal expression of
microRNAs (
miRNAs) plays a key role in
tumorigenesis. In order to identify potential
miRNA biomarkers for early diagnosis of larynx
carcinoma, we employed a
miRNA microarray technique and applied bioinformatic algorithms to characterize
miRNA classifiers in early larynx
carcinoma and normal esophageal mucosa tissue samples from 69 patients who were selected retrospectively for this study. We identified 47
miRNAs that were significantly differentially expressed in primary larynx
tumor tissues compared to normal tissues using a SAM algorithm. Of these, 30 were up-regulated and 17 down-regulated in early
larynx cancer, including
hsa-miR-657, which was overexpressed, and
hsa-miR-1287, which was underexpressed. These two candidate
miRNA biomarkers were combined as a single classifier to recognize the
biological characteristics in early larynx
carcinoma. Real-time quantitative reverse-transcription PCR validated the microarray results in both trial and test samples. The hsa-miR-657-hsa-miR-1287 classifier displayed high sensitivity and specificity for discriminating between early larynx
carcinoma and normal mucosa tissues, suggesting they may be suitable as potential predictive
biomarkers for the early diagnosis of larynx
carcinoma.