Circulating MicroRNAs Reflect Systemic Inflammation and Metabolic Dysfunction in Oesophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma-Associated Cachexia.
4 affiliations
- 1Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Southeast University Affiliated Nantong First People's Hospital, Nantong, China.
- 2Department of Pathology, Nantong University, Nantong, China.
- 3Department of Clinical Medicine, Nantong University, Nantong, China.
- 4Department of Thoracic Surgery, Southeast University Affiliated Nantong First People's Hospital, Nantong, China.
Abstract
Background
Cachexia in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma is driven by systemic inflammation and malnutrition and is associated with poor survival. We evaluated whether circulating miRNAs can identify ESCC cachexia and reflect its inflammatory-nutritional phenotype.Methods
We enrolled 126 participants: 42 healthy controls and 84 treatment-naïve patients with ESCC, equally classified as noncachectic or cachectic using international consensus criteria. Small-RNA sequencing in a discovery subset (n = 4/group) was followed by cohort-wide qRT-PCR. Exploratory within-cohort discrimination was assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis; survival associations were evaluated using Kaplan-Meier and univariate Cox analyses.Results
Cachectic ESCC was characterized by lower albumin, total protein and prealbumin and higher IL-6, TNF-α, CRP and IL-1β than noncachectic ESCC (all p < 0.05). Circulating hsa-miR-5187-5p and hsa-miR-4433b-3p increased stepwise from controls to noncachectic and cachectic ESCC. For noncachectic versus cachectic ESCC, AUCs were 0.8594 and 0.8175, respectively (both p < 0.0001); for controls versus cachectic ESCC, AUCs were 0.9439 and 0.8889. Cachexia was associated with shorter overall survival (HR 1.708, 95% CI 1.011-2.887; p = 0.026), as were high miR-5187-5p (HR 3.635) and miR-4433b-3p (HR 3.190) expression. Correlations with inflammatory markers and albumin were weak to moderate.Conclusions
hsa-miR-5187-5p and hsa-miR-4433b-3p are candidate circulating indicators of ESCC-associated cachexia and its inflammatory-metabolic milieu. Their discriminatory and prognostic performance remains exploratory because analyses were conducted within the same cohort and were not comprehensively adjusted for tumour stage or other clinicopathological factors.
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BibTeX
@article{li2026circulating,
title = {{Circulating MicroRNAs Reflect Systemic Inflammation and Metabolic Dysfunction in Oesophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma-Associated Cachexia.}},
author = {Yan Li and Rui Chen and Xinyi Lv and Shujuan Wei and Yiming Xu and Shengguang Ding},
journal = {Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1002/jcsm.70409},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42910566},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Circulating MicroRNAs Reflect Systemic Inflammation and Metabolic Dysfunction in Oesophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma-Associated Cachexia.
AU - Yan Li
AU - Rui Chen
AU - Xinyi Lv
AU - Shujuan Wei
AU - Yiming Xu
AU - Shengguang Ding
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle
DO - 10.1002/jcsm.70409
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42910566
AB - Background Cachexia in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma is driven by systemic inflammation and malnutrition and is associated with poor survival. We evaluated whether circulating miRNAs can identify ESCC cachexia and reflect its inflammatory-nutritional phenotype.Methods We enrolled 126 participants: 42 healthy controls and 84 treatment-naïve patients with ESCC, equally classified as noncachectic or cachectic using international consensus criteria. Small-RNA sequencing in a discovery subset (n = 4/group) was followed by cohort-wide qRT-PCR. Exploratory within-cohort discrimination was assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis; survival associations were evaluated using Kaplan-Meier and univariate Cox analyses.Results Cachectic ESCC was characterized by lower albumin, total protein and prealbumin and higher IL-6, TNF-α, CRP and IL-1β than noncachectic ESCC (all p < 0.05). Circulating hsa-miR-5187-5p and hsa-miR-4433b-3p increased stepwise from controls to noncachectic and cachectic ESCC. For noncachectic versus cachectic ESCC, AUCs were 0.8594 and 0.8175, respectively (both p < 0.0001); for controls versus cachectic ESCC, AUCs were 0.9439 and 0.8889. Cachexia was associated with shorter overall survival (HR 1.708, 95% CI 1.011-2.887; p = 0.026), as were high miR-5187-5p (HR 3.635) and miR-4433b-3p (HR 3.190) expression. Correlations with inflammatory markers and albumin were weak to moderate.Conclusions hsa-miR-5187-5p and hsa-miR-4433b-3p are candidate circulating indicators of ESCC-associated cachexia and its inflammatory-metabolic milieu. Their discriminatory and prognostic performance remains exploratory because analyses were conducted within the same cohort and were not comprehensively adjusted for tumour stage or other clinicopathological factors.
SN - 2190-5991
SN - 2190-6009
ER -