Circulating Exosomal miR-27a and miR-130a Act as Novel Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarkers of Colorectal Cancer

Abstract Background: Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide usually is associated with poor prognosis due to the advanced stage when diagnosed. This study aimed to investigate whether specific circulating exosomal miRNAs could act as biomarkers for early diagnosis of colorectal cancer. Methods: A total of 369 peripheral blood samples were included in this study. In the discovery phase, circulating exosomal miR-27a and miR-130a were selected after synthetical analysis of two GEO datasets and TCGA database. The differential expression and diagnostic utility of miR-27a and miR-130a panel were validated using qRT-PCR and ROC curve analysis in subsequent training phase, validation phase, and external validation phase. The prognosis of circulating exosomal miR-27a and miR-130a were investigated using the…