Diagnostic Value of Circulating miR-324 for Prostate Cancer

Background: To investigate the diagnostic value of serum miR-324 in patients with prostate cancer (PC). Methods: Blood samples from 50 patients with prostate cancer, 30 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and 20 healthy controls were collected and quantified by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The relationship between serum miR-324 level and Gleason classification and TNM staging of prostate cancer was analyzed. ROC curve was used to analyze the value of miR-324 in early diagnosis of prostate cancer. Results: The expression of miR-324 in prostate cancer group was significantly higher than that in the BPH group and normal control group (all p < 0.01). Serum miR-324 was associated with the Gleason score and tumor stage (all p < 0.01). Serum miR-324 was positively correlated with PSA (r = 0.673, p = 0.000); ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the ROC curve of miR-324 (all p < 0.01) (AUC) was 0.911 (95% CI: 0.855 - 0.966, p = 0.000). When the relative expression level of miR-324 was 3.35, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive values were 86.0%, 82.0%, 82.7%, and 85.4%, respectively. Conclusions: The increased expression of serum miR-324 in patients with prostate cancer may be a potential new biomarker for the diagnosis of prostate cancer, which is helpful for the differentiation between PC and BPH.