Articles

One of the essential regulators of carcinogenesis is MicroRNA-21 (miR- 21). Yetlittlel1ighthasbeen1shedonitseffectiv1enessasatumor1markercomparedto1theconvention1alones. Comparing the diagnostic value of established tumor markers in breast cancer (BC) such as carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and CA153 with circulating level of miR-21 is the aim of this study.! Methods:"The study included 89 BC patients. Amplification of the circulating levels of miR-21 and miR- 16 done using real-time PCR qualitative detection, while electrochemiluminescence assays was used to detect circulating levels of CEA and CA153. The diagnostic sensitivity for BC was compared between the three. Results:"the serum miR-21 levels were high significantly BC patients, as the latter had much higher levels (P<0.001). The CA153 and CEA sensitivities were 15.73% and 22.47% respectively, while miR-21 Sensitivity and specificity were 87.6% and 87.3%. Conclusion:"in BC patients miR-21 exhibits far higher sensitivity for diagnoses than both CEA and CA153. Thus especially in the early stages of BC, miR-21 can become a potential indicator for diagnosis, albeit the clinical stage, PR and ER statuses were not correlated in this study