Investigation of WASF3 gene expression, methylation and mirna profile in childhood sarcomas

Sarcomas are a very aggressive, rapidly metastatic malignant tumor in children and young adults.Non-invasive diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers are needed in sarcomas. WASF3 has been shown to support invasion in normal cells and suppress invasion and metastasis in cancer cell lines when deleted. The study was performed on a study population consisting of 25 sarcoma patients and 22 healthy children matched for age, sex, and ethnicity. In addition, tumor tissue from 4 patients and connective tissue near the tumor from 2 patients were included in the study. Peripheral blood and tumor tissue during surgery, during and after treatment were included in the study. WASF3 expression and miR-218-5p expression level in the RNA samples of peripheral blood and tissue samples were analyzed by real-time polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR).The methylated and unmethylated status of the patients was analyzed with DNA using the methylation-specific PCR technique. When investigated between untreated pediatric sarcoma patients and healthy control groups, it was found that the expression of WASF3 decreased 3.6-fold in the patient groups. After treatment, the level of WASF3 gene expression was found to decrease. The expression of miR-218-5p increased 6.3-fold compared to the healthy control groups, and this increase was found to be statistically significant. Loss of DNA methylation was detected in four different tumor tissues examined in the study, as well as in patients and healthy individuals.In conclusion, the expression level of miR-218-5p studied in blood and tumor tissues suggests that it has high diagnostic value and can be used as both a therapeutic and prognostic marker in sarcomas.