Alteration of Gene and miRNA Expression in Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia and Cervical Cancer.

: Cervical cancer is one of the most common malignancies in women in terms of prevalence and mortality. Cervical cancer has some particularities that distinguish it from any other oncologic pathology: first, it is completely preventable by prompt detection of its precursor, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN); second, the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a known etiological agent; third, the mean age at diagnosis is much lower than in other oncologic conditions, as a consequence of the sexually-transmitted HPV. : We evaluated the expression level of several long noncoding RNAs and a microRNA in samples from 30 patients with CIN, 9 with cervical cancer and 38 normal samples using qRT-PCR technology. : We observed higher expression levels for , and in CIN samples than in normal samples, whereas and had lower expression levels. For cancer samples, , and had higher expression, and , and had lower expression when compared to normal samples. In the case of CIN versus cancer samples, only gene showed a statistically significant difference. The expression of was lower in both CIN and cancer samples compared to normal samples. Decreased expression could be considered an alarm signal in the transition from a premalignant cervical lesion to invasive cancer, while altered expression levels of , , , and could serve as early biomarkers in the diagnosis of premalignant cervical lesions. Future studies, including a larger number of patients with CIN, will be of particular importance in validating these observations.