Objectives

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) represents the second most common primary hepatic malignancy. Despite tremendous research activities, the prognosis for the majority of patients is still poor. Only in case of early diagnosis, liver resection might potentially lead to long-term survival. However, it is still unclear which patients benefit most from extensive liver surgery, highlighting the need for new diagnostic and prognostic stratification strategies.

Methods

Serum concentrations of a 4 miRNA panel (miR-122, miR-192, miR-29b and miR-155) were analyzed using semi-quantitative reverse-transcriptase PCR in serum samples from 94 patients with cholangiocarcinoma undergoing tumour resection and 40 healthy controls. Results were correlated with clinical data.

Results

Serum concentrations of miR-122, miR-192, miR-29b and miR-155 were significantly elevated in patients with CCA compared to healthy controls or patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis without malignant transformation. Although preoperative levels of these miRNAs were unsuitable as a prognostic marker of survival, a strong postoperative decline of miR-122 serum levels was significantly associated with a favorable patients’ prognosis.

Conclusions

Analysis of circulating miRNAs represents a promising tool for the diagnosis of even early stage CCA. A postoperative decline in miRNA serum concentrations might be indicative for a favorable patients’ outcome and helpful to identify patients with a good prognosis after extended liver surgery.

中文翻译：

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胆管癌患者的血清miR-29，miR-122，miR-155和miR-192升高

目标

胆管癌（CCA）代表第二大最常见的原发性肝恶性肿瘤。尽管进行了大量的研究活动，但大多数患者的预后仍然很差。仅在早期诊断的情况下，肝切除可能会导致长期生存。但是，尚不清楚哪些患者将从广泛的肝脏手术中受益最大，这凸显了对新的诊断和预后分层策略的需求。

方法

使用半定量逆转录酶PCR技术分析了94例接受胆管癌切除的胆管癌患者和40例健康对照者的血清样品中4种miRNA检测组（miR-122，miR-192，miR-29b和miR-155）的血清浓度。结果与临床数据相关。

结果

与健康对照组或患有原发性硬化性胆管炎且未发生恶性转化的患者相比，CCA患者中的miR-122，miR-192，miR-29b和miR-155血清浓度显着升高。尽管这些miRNA的术前水平不适合作为生存的预后指标，但术后miR-122血清水平强烈下降与患者预后良好相关。

结论

循环miRNA的分析代表了诊断早期CCA的有前途的工具。术后miRNA血清浓度的下降可能预示着患者的良好结局，并有助于确定长期肝手术后预后良好的患者。