Roles of microRNA-486-5p in the diagnosis and the association with clinical symptoms of cervical cancer

<b>Aim:</b> To explore the predictive value of <i>miR-486-5p</i> in early cervical cancer and the associations of <i>miR-486-5p</i> with different clinical symptoms.<b>Materials & methods:</b> A total of 185 women were recruited. The relative expression levels of serum <i>miR-486-5p</i> were analyzed by real-time polymerase chain reaction. The receiver operator characteristic curves were utilized to reflect the predictive performance of <i>miR-486-5p</i> and squamous cell carcinoma antigen for early cervical cancer. Univariate logistic regression and ranked logistic regression were used to explore the associations of <i>miR-486-5p</i> with different clinical symptoms of early cervical cancer, with odd ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals.<b>Results:</b> Eighty-one women (44.26%) had early cervical cancer. The relative expression of serum <i>miR-486-5p</i> was 1.99-fold higher in early cervical cancer patients than that in controls (<i>p</i> < 0.0001). The predictive performance of <i>miR-486-5p</i> for early cervical cancer was significantly superior to that of squamous cell carcinoma antigen, with an area under the curve of 0.865 (<i>p</i> < 0.001), sensitivity of 1.000 and specificity of 0.804. In addition, overexpressed <i>miR-486-5p</i> was associated with high odds of maximum tumor diameter increase (OR = 1.30, 95% CI: [1.01-1.66]).<b>Conclusion:</b> <i>MiR-486-5p</i> may be a potential biomarker for the early cervical cancer diagnosis, and was linked to the risk of maximum tumor diameter.