MicroRNAs expression changes coincide with low or high grade of squamous intraepithelial lesion infected by HPV-16

Cervical cancer is the second most common malignancy worldwide and the third leading cause of death in women. It accounts for 1% of all cancers and is the third neoplasm ever diagnosed. Several viruses can cause cancer so that viruses are connected to almost 15–20% of human malignancies and nearly 80% of cervical and liver. MicroRNAs can be used as a tumor oncogene by controlling related genes of tumors. In addition, they can be applied as biomarkers in the diagnosis, prognosis, and even treatment of cancer tissues. The current study aimed to investigate the changes in the expression of miR-21, miR-16, miR-143, and miR-34a related to the severity of the disease in women with low or high grades of squamous intraepithelial lesion or carcinoma infected by HPV-16. In this case-control study, the expression of four microRNAs in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues of 36 patients with cervical cancer and 36 samples of healthy women are studied by real-time-PCR. For all four miRNAs, enhanced expression was observed in low-grade SIL patients, compared to controls. Also, increased expression of miR-21 in high-grade SIL patients and decreased expression of miR-143 in this grade were found. MicroRNAs can play important roles as biomarkers in the diagnosis of different stages of cervical carcinoma. •The expression of miR-21increasing in the low and high grade SIL.•The expression of miR-143 in the low grade but decreasing it in the high grade is a suitable model for determining the patients as low or high grade SIL.