Elevated expression of exosomal microRNA-21 as a potential biomarker for the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer using a tethered cationic lipoplex nanoparticle biochip

Pancreatic cancer (PC) has a poor prognosis due to the lack of effective molecular biomarkers for early diagnosis. Recent studies have investigated the use of exosomal microRNAs (exmiRs) as diagnostic biomarkers in cancer. The present study examined exmiR-21, exmiR-10b and exmiR-212-3p expression in patients with PC and healthy individuals. The expression levels of exmiR-21, exmiR-10b and exmiR-212-3p were examined in the peripheral blood plasma of 36 patients with PC and 65 healthy controls, using tethered cationic lipoplex nanoparticle biochip. The levels of exmiR-21 in the plasma of 34 mice were also evaluated. The expression levels of exmiR-21 and exmiR-10b were significantly greater in patients with PC compared with the control group. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis indicated that exmiR-21 had better diagnostic performance (P=0.0003; AUC, 0.7171) compared with the other two exmiRs. The diagnostic value of exmiR-21 improved when combined with exmiR-10b (P