METHODS: The study was divided into two phases: (I) Marker discovery by miRNA microarray using paired cancer tissues (n = 30) and blood samples (CRC, n = 42; control, n = 18). (II) Marker validation by stem-loop reverse transcription real time PCR using an independent set of paired cancer tissues (n = 30) and blood samples (CRC, n = 70; control, n = 32). Correlation analysis was determined by Pearson's test. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristics curve analyses were applied to obtain diagnostic utility of the miRNAs.

RESULTS: Seven miRNAs (miR-150, miR-193a-3p, miR-23a, miR-23b, miR-338-5p, miR-342-3p and miR-483-3p) have been found to be differentially expressed in both tissue and blood samples. Significant positive correlations were observed in the tissue and blood levels of miR-193a-3p, miR-23a and miR-338-5p. Moreover, increased expressions of these miRNAs were detected in the more advanced stages. MiR-193a-3p, miR-23a and miR-338-5p were demonstrated as a classifier for CRC detection, yielding a receiver operating characteristic curve area of 0.887 (80.0% sensitivity, 84.4% specificity and 83.3% accuracy).

METHODS: The study was initiated in September 2005 and patients were followed up to March 2014. Two hundred patients with oral leukoplakia, 100 patients with oral cancer and 100 healthy, age and sex matched adults with normal oral mucosa as controls were recruited. The DNA ploidy content was measured by high resolution flow cytometry, level of telomerase expression was identified by TRAP assay and intrinsic DNA repair capacity was measured by mutagen induced chromosome sensitivity assay of cultured peripheral blood lymphocytes. The Chi-square test or Fisher's Exact test was used for comparison of categorical variables between biomarkers. A p value less than or equal to 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Analysis was performed with SPSS software version 16. Logistic regression was used to find the association between the dependent and three independent variables.

METHODS: Liquid based cervico-vaginal cytology specimens with squamous abnormalities and corresponding histology from 97 women with subsequent colposcopy and biopsy were included. The specimens were then subjected to the dual stain and Roche Cobas 4800 multiplex real time PCR HPV DNA testing. The sensitivity and specificity of the dual stain and HPV testing were calculated using CIN 2+ on histology as a reference standard.

RESULTS: The sensitivity and specificity of the dual stain in detecting histology proven CIN 2+ was 93.7% and 76.5% while HPV testing was 85.7% and 14.7% respectively. Of the 44 women with ASCUS or LSIL on cytology, the dual stain also reduced the number of unnecessary colposcopy referrals from 27 to 7 when used as a triage marker compared to HPV testing.

METHODS: Tissues were collected from 80 patients with clinically detected prostate cancer and treated with radical prostatectomy. Cases were tested for ERG by immunohistochemistry using the mouse monoclonal antibody EP111. All blocks on 48 cases were tested in order to determine the extent of heterogeneity of ERG expression within individual cases. ERG expression was analysed in relation to patient age, ethnicity and tumour stage and grade.

RESULTS: Forty-six percent of cases were ERG positive. There was no significant association between ERG and tumour grade or stage. Sixty-nine percent of Indian patients had ERG positive tumours; this was significantly higher (p=0.031) than for Chinese (40%) and Malay (44%) patients. Heterogeneity of ERG expression, in which both positive and negative clones were present, was seen in 35% of evaluated cases. Evaluation by tumour foci showed younger patients had more ERG positive tumour foci than older patients (p=0.01). Indian patients were more likely to have the majority of tumour foci with ERG staining positively, compared to either Chinese or Malay patients (P <0.01).