OBJECTIVE: To determine the utility of serum miRNAs as biomarkers for epithelial 
ovarian cancer.
METHODS: Twenty-eight patients with histologically confirmed epithelial ovarian 
cancer were identified from a tissue and serum bank. Serum was collected prior 
to definitive therapy. Fifteen unmatched, healthy controls were used for 
comparison. Serum was obtained from all patients. RNA was extracted using a 
derivation of the single step Trizol method. The RNA from 9 cancer specimens was 
compared to 4 normal specimens with real-time PCR using the TaqMan Array Human 
MicroRNA panel. Twenty-one miRNAs were differentially expressed between normal 
and patient serum. Real-time PCR for the 21 individual miRNAs was performed on 
the remaining 19 cancer specimens and 11 normal specimens.
RESULTS: Eight miRNAs of the original twenty-one were identified that were 
significantly differentially expressed between cancer and normal specimens using 
the comparative C(t) method. MiRNAs-21, 92, 93, 126 and 29a were significantly 
over-expressed in the serum from cancer patients compared to controls (p<.01). 
MiRNAs-155, 127 and 99b were significantly under-expressed (p<.01). 
Additionally, miRs-21, 92 and 93 were over-expressed in 3 patients with normal 
pre-operative CA-125.
CONCLUSION: We demonstrate that the extraction of RNA and subsequent 
identification of miRNAs from the serum of individuals diagnosed with ovarian 
cancer is feasible. Real-time PCR-based microarray is a novel and practical 
means to performing high-throughput investigation of serum RNA samples. 
miRNAs-21, 92 and 93 are known oncogenes with therapeutic and biomarker 
potential.