Characteristic miRNAs expression profile of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Objective To study the expression profiles of microRNA(miRNA) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma by microarray technique and explore the potential molecular signature specific for nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Methods Tissues were obtained from 8 cases of nasopharyngeal non-keratinizing carcinoma and 8 cases of chronic nasopharyngeal inflammation.Total RNA was extracted by Trizol method and hybridized with human 723 miRNA microarrays.The miRNA expression profiles of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and chronic inflammation was analyzed and differential miRNA expression between nasopharyngeal carcinomas and chronic inflammation was determined.Results miRNA expression profiling was performed to screen the miRNA expression change of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Thirty-one miRNAs were identified to be differentially expressed,in which 6 were overexpressed and 25 were underexpressed in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Conclusion Thirty-one differentially expressed miRNAs were detected in nasopharyngeal carcinoma by microarray method.The study of the differentially expressed miRNAs in nasopharyngeal carcinoma may play a foundation for the advanced studies to explore the carcinogenesis,development and early diagnosis of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma.