miR-142-3p, miR-155 and miR-203 expression levels might be helpful biomarkers for the differential diagnosis between gastric MALT lymphomas and chronic gastritis.
While some of these merely reflect the presence of lymphocytes (e.g. miR-566 and miR-212) or H. pylori infection (e.g. miR-155 and let7f), a distinct set of five microRNAs (miR-150, miR-550, miR-124a, miR-518b and miR-539) was shown to be differentially expressed in gastritis as opposed to MALT lymphoma.
Variant rs928883, near miR-155, showed an association (OR per A-allele: 2.80 [95% CI: 1.63-4.82]; p(F) = 0.027) with marginal zone lymphoma that is significant after correction for multiple testing.
The expression levels of miR-142-5p and miR-155 were significantly increased in MALT lymphomas which do not respond to Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) eradication.