Circulating miR-95 is a Potential Biomarker of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have crucial roles in cellular and molecular processes related to different malignancies including chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Studies revealed altered miR-95 expression in several diseases. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a heterogeneous group of non-coding and regulatory RNAs. The present study was conducted to investigate the association of miR-95 expression with CLL by quantitative real-time PCR. Materials and Methods: Sixty samples, including 30 CLL and 30 healthy controls, were sampled during a period of 4 months. The expression of miR-95 was evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with CLL and in healthy subjects. Additionally, in silico pathway enrichment analysis was performed on validated and predicted targets of miR-95 in several databases, including miRecords and miRTarBase, while the interactions between predicted putative lncRNAs and genes and miRNA expression were examined with miRWalk. Results: The expression of miR-95 was found to be significantly reduced in patients with CLL compared to that in healthy controls ( P 0.005). Conclusion: miR-95 showed potential as a biomarker for the early diagnosis of patients with CLL. LncRNAs play a significant role in regulating cellular evolution, differentiation, and other processes and may be important regulators in tumorigenesis.