Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, principally because of the late diagnosis. Non small lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for about 80% of all lung malignancies. Most patients with NSCLC are diagnosed at an advanced stage and the current methods are low-dose computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography and sputum cytology; however, the sensitivities are insufficient for early diagnosis and the rate of false-positive findings are higher.
Circulating miRNAs have been investigated as biomarkers for NSCLC in blood, since they are stable and detectable. These miRNAs are showed an unusual expression profile. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC’s) miRNA profile can be related to NSCLC stage and further diagnosis. Molecular beacons (MB) are oligonucleotides comprising a stem-loop structural configuration that enable specific nucleic acid sequence detection throughout fluorescence. In this work, we measure miRNAs in PBMC’sisolated from whole blood of NSCLC patients and healthy volunteers by Ficoll-Isopague centrifugation and identify the miRNA-155-3p and 5p by RT-qPCR analysis. After that it was performed the MB design for the targeting of miRNA-155. The characterization of the MB together with the synthetic miRNA-155-3p showed promising results, that confirm the specificity of MB as a method of detection to mir-155-3p. The results revealed that miRNA-155-3p is up-regulated in the patients comparing to the controls.