BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic and prognostic value of microRNA (miRNA)-21, miRNA-23a, and miRNA-125b in Burkitt lymphoma (BL) in children.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We recruited 41 children with BL for the case group, 56 children with lymph node inflammation for the positive control group, and 60 healthy children for the negative control group. Real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was conducted for detection of circulating miRNA-21, miRNA-23a, and miRNA-125b. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to compare the diagnostic value of miRNA-21, miRNA-23a, and miRNA-125b. Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were used for prognostic analyses.

RESULTS: MiRNA-21 and miRNA-23a had significantly higher expression in cases than in positive and negative controls (all P<0.05). Overexpression of miRNA-21 and miRNA-23a were associated with staging, WBC, upregulated serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level, presence of lymphoma size ≥6 cm, and cluster of differentiation 10 (CD10) expression, while miRNA-125b expression had an association with staging and upregulated serum LDH level (both P<0.05). ROC curves of miRNA-21, miRNA-23a, and miRNA-125b presented an area under curve (AUC) of 0.759, 0.853 and 0.615, respectively. MiRNA-21 and miRNA-23a in combination had an AUC of 0.869. After treatment, both miRNA-21 and miRNA-23a expression were significantly decreased (both P<0.05). Advanced clinical stage, upregulated LDH, and lymphoma size of ³6 cm were related to low complete remission rate (all P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Patients with high expression of miRNA-21 and miRNA-23a had significantly lower complete remission rates and survival rates than those with low expression. Expression of miRNA-21 and miRNA-23a may serve as useful diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in children with BL.

Keywords: Biomarkers, Tumor - blood, Adolescent, Burkitt Lymphoma - genetics, Case-Control Studies, Child, Child, Preschool, MicroRNAs - genetics, ROC Curve