Identification of Circulating MiR-25 as a Potential Biomarker for Pancreatic Cancer Diagnosis

Background: The aim of this study was to identify novel microRNAs for potential use in the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer (PaC). Methods: A total of 1063 serum samples from 303 patients with PaC were collected, and the expression level of miR-25 was measured using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Results: We found that miR-25 had significant diagnostic value for the differential diagnosis of PaC in normal controls with an AUC (the area under the ROC curve) of 0.915 (95% CI: 0.893-0.937) that was significantly higher compared with an AUC of 0.725 for serum tumor marker carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and an AUC of 0.844 for CA19-9. Conclusions: These data suggest that serum miR-25 has strong potential as a novel biomarker for the early detection of PaC.