MicroRNAs in colorectal cancer: A comparative analysis of circulating and tissue microRNA levels

doi:10.4251/wjgo.v17.i11.110266

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World Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology

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1948-5204

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Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA

Case Control Study

World J Gastrointest Oncol. Nov 15, 2025; 17(11): 110266
Published online Nov 15, 2025. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v17.i11.110266

MicroRNAs in colorectal cancer: A comparative analysis of circulating and tissue microRNA levels

Iulia Andreea Pelisenco, Bogdan Trandafir, Anastasia-Maria Dobre, Andrei-Daniel Dragne, Vlad Herlea, Andrei Marian Niculae, Catalin Vasilescu, Mihail Eugen Hinescu, Elena Milanesi, Maria Dobre

Iulia Andreea Pelisenco, Andrei Marian Niculae, Mihail Eugen Hinescu, Maria Dobre, Department of Pathology, Victor Babes National Institute of Pathology, Bucharest 050096, Romania

Bogdan Trandafir, Anastasia-Maria Dobre, Andrei-Daniel Dragne, Vlad Herlea, Andrei Marian Niculae, Catalin Vasilescu, Mihail Eugen Hinescu, Elena Milanesi, Maria Dobre, Faculty of Medicine, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest 050474, Romania

Vlad Herlea, Department of Pathology, Fundeni Clinical Institute, Bucharest 022258, Romania

Catalin Vasilescu, Department of General Surgery, Fundeni Clinical Institute, Bucharest 022258, Romania

Elena Milanesi, Department of Radiobiology, Victor Babes National Institute of Pathology, Bucharest 050096, Romania

Co-first authors: Iulia Andreea Pelisenco and Bogdan Trandafir.

Author contributions: Pelisenco IA and Trandafir B contributed equally to designing the present study, analyzing data, and writing as co-first authors; Milanesi E, Niculae AM, Dobre M, Dobre AM, Dragne AD, and Hinescu ME contributed to methodology, formal analysis, data extraction, reviewing, and editing; Herlea V, Vasilescu C, and Trandafir B contributed to acquisition and data interpretation; Dobre M was involved in supervision. All authors contributed to the interpretation of the study and approved the final version to be published.

Supported by European Union’s NextGeneration PNRR-III-C9-2022-I5, managed by the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization, No. 760009/30.12.2022, code CF 14/16.11.2022; and Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization of Romania, No. PN 23.16.02.04.

Institutional review board statement: The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Ethics Committee of Fundeni Clinical Institute and the Ethics Committee of the “Victor Babes” National Institute of Pathology, No. 78.

Informed consent statement: All the patients signed the written informed consent.

Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.

STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.

Data sharing statement: All the raw data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Corresponding author: Elena Milanesi, Assistant Professor, Senior Researcher, Faculty of Medicine, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, No. 8, Sector 5, Eroii Sanitari Boulevard, Bucharest 050474, Romania. elena.k.milanesi@gmail.com

Received: June 3, 2025
Revised: August 22, 2025
Accepted: October 23, 2025
Published online: November 15, 2025
Processing time: 164 Days and 8.8 Hours

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. The gold standard screening methods for early detection and monitoring are colonoscopy and stool-based tests. However, innovative and minimally invasive biomarkers need to be integrated into clinical practice.

AIM

To identify circulating microRNAs as potential CRC biomarkers through a comparative analysis of tissue and plasma samples from patients with CRC.

METHODS

This case-control study conducted a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis of 84 microRNAs in tumoral and peritumoral tissues, and 179 microRNAs in plasma from 19 patients with CRC. A control cohort for the tissue analysis and another control cohort for the plasma analysis have been enrolled.

RESULTS

In total, 14 microRNAs were significantly differentially expressed in the tissue and plasma samples. Notably, five microRNAs (miR-26b-5p, miR-101-3p, miR-30d-5p, miR-107, and miR-21-5p) presented the same trend in terms of fold change in both types of biological samples. Significant associations between the circulating levels of miR-21-5p and miR-26b-5p and lymphovascular invasion were found.

CONCLUSION

These five microRNAs with significantly altered levels in plasma and tumoral tissue, could be good non-invasive CRC biomarkers candidates, enhancing screening, and supporting precision and individualized patient care.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer; MicroRNAs; Biomarker; Plasma; Colonic mucosa; Lymphovascular invasion

Core Tip: In this case-control study, we analyzed the levels of 84 microRNAs in tumoral and peritumoral colonic mucosa of 19 patients with colorectal cancer compared to those expressed in the normal mucosa from 18 controls. For each patient, we also investigated the levels of 179 circulating microRNAs in comparison with a cohort of 16 controls. A relationship between tissue and plasma levels has been established along with correlations with tumoral features. Five microRNAs (miR-26b-5p, miR-101-3p, miR-30d-5p, miR-107, and miR-21-5p) presented the same trend in terms of fold change in both biological samples, suggesting them as putative non-invasive biomarkers for monitoring colorectal cancer progression.