Expressions of miRNAs in papillary thyroid carcinoma and their associations with the clinical characteristics of PTC

BACKGROUND: The sensitivity and specificity of biomarkers which have been used in clinical practice for diagnosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) are low, it is essential to develop novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for PTC. OBJECTIVE: To explore the expressions of miR-940, miR-15a, miR-16 and IL-23 in PTC tissues and plasma and their associations with the clinical characteristics of PTC. METHODS: We investigated the expressions of miR-940, miR-15a, miR-16 and IL-23 in plasma and thyroid tissues of PTC, nodular goiter and healthy people with qRT-PCR, and further analyzed the associations between their levels and the clinical characteristics of PTC. RESULTS: Level of IL-23 expression was higher while levels of miR-940, miR-15a and miR-16 expression in the PTC tissues were lower compared with the nodular goiter tissues and perineoplastic thyroid tissues. And the levels of miR-940, miR-15a, miR-16 and IL-23 expression in the PTC tissues were associated with some clinical characteristics of PTC, including bilateral tumor, multicentricity, extrallyroidal invasion, cervical lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis and clinical advanced stages (III/IV). CONCLUSIONS: Expressions of miR-940, miR-15a, miR-16 and IL-23 in PTC tissues might be useful biomarkers and promising targets in the diagnosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma.