serum mir-23 and mir-150 profiles as biomarkers for predicting recurrence following surgical intervention in colorectal cancer patients

Background: micrornas (mirnas) play pivotal roles in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression and have emerged as crucial regulators in cancer development, progression, and metastasis. this study aimed to assess the expression profiles of mir-23, mir-223, mir-1246, and mir-150 in serum samples obtained from colorectal cancer (crc) patients before and three months after surgery, in comparison to a healthy control group, to explore their biomarker potential.methods: a total of 50 blood samples were collected from patients with crc (pre- and post-surgery), along with 50 samples from healthy controls. the relative expression levels of mir-23, mir-223, mir-1246, and mir-150 in the serum were quantified using quantitative real-time pcr.results: our findings revealed upregulated expression levels of mir-23, mir-1246, and mir-223, while mir-150 exhibited significant downregulation in the serum of crc subjects compared to healthy controls. receiver operating characteristic (roc) analysis indicated that mir-23 and mir-150 could distinguish crc cases from controls with relatively high accuracy. moreover, three months post-surgery, mir-23, mir-1246, and mir-223 serum levels were downregulated, and mir-150 was significantly upregulated. however, no significant correlations were observed between serum levels of the studied genes and the clinical features of our patients.conclusions: the serum levels of mir-23 and mir-150 hold promise as potential biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of crc.