Exosomal miR-590-5p in Serum as a Biomarker for the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Gastric Cancer

The purpose of this study is to explore the expression of miRNA-590-5p, an exosome of gastric cancer (GC), and to evaluate the suitability of miR-590-5p, an exosome with its own clinical characteristics. Serum samples from 168 gastric cancer patients and 50 matched controls were collected and exosomal RNAs were extracted. After that, miR-590-5p is analyzed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), which is more related to clinical and pathological parameters and patient monitoring data. MGC-803 and HGC-27 cells were treated by miR-590-5p mimics, and then the changes of cell fluidity and invasiveness were monitored. The results showed that the expression level of miR-590-5p in exosomes of healthy observation group, early (I and II) stage group, and late stage (III) group was 30.34 ± 6.35, 6.19 ± 0.81, and 2.9 ± 0.19, respectively (all < 0.05). ROC (receiver-operating characteristic curve) showed that the AUC (area under the curve) of exosomal miR-590-5p was 0.810 with 63.7% sensitivity and 86% specificity. The expression of exosomal miR-590-5p in serum was related to clinical stage ( = 0.008), infiltration depth, and the expression level of ki-67 ( < 0.001). In addition, Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the decrease of explicit level of exosomal miR-590-5p was related to the decrease of overall survival rate ( < 0.001). Cox regression analysis showed that miR-590-5p can be used as an independent predictor. Furthermore, upregulation of miR-590-5p inhibited cell migration and invasion in MGC-803 cells and HGC-27 cells. The serum expression level of exosomal miR-590-5p may be a biomarker, which is potentially useful and noninvasive for early detection and prediction of GC. In addition, miR-590-5p can play a role in eliminating carcinogens by actively regulating the malignant potential of gastric cancer.