The expression levels of miRNA-15a and miRNA-16-1 in circulating tumor cells of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have major roles in nearly all cellular process including gene expression, and may behave as oncogene or tumor suppressor gene by binding to complementary sequences in the target mRNA. The circulating microRNA-15a (miRNA-15a) and microRNA-16-1 (miRNA-16-1) of 15 healthy adults and of 40 untreated patients diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBC) were recruited to investigate the expression levels. The expression levels of miRNA-15a, and miRNA-16-1 genes of the untreated DLBCL patients, and healthy individuals with matched age, sex and ethnicity were examined. MicroRNA expression profiles obtained from peripheral blood were investigated. The samples were collected from 40 patients diagnosed with DLBC patients, and from 15 healthy controls. Two miRNAs were selected, and expression profile was examined using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) based on the previous studies. Statistically significant expression level differences (p 0.05). On the contrary to the literature, miRNA-16-1 expression level was suppressed in DLBCL group in our study, however no whole gene silencing was performed. MicroRNA-16-1 might be suggested to behave as a tumor suppressor in DLBCL in our study.