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 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.