Dietary Intake is Associated with miR-31 and miR-375 Expression in Patients with Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important epigenetic regulators in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), with miR-31 being considered an oncomir and miR-375, a tumor suppressor miR, which are up- and down-regulated in HNSCC, respectively. Nutrients are known to influence miRNA expression; however, this association is poorly explored in HNSCC. This work aimed to identify associations between dietary intake and the expression of miR-31 and miR-375 in patients newly diagnosed with HNSCC. The expression of miR-31 was positively associated with the consumption of iron (beta = 16.65) and vitamin C (beta = 0.37), and inversely associated with total sugar (beta = -0.88), cholesterol (beta= -0.23), vitamin B-9 (beta= -0.37) and zinc (beta = -5.66) intake. The expression of miR-375 was positively associated with the consumption of selenium (beta = 1.52), vitamin C (beta = 0.17) and vitamin D (beta = 13.01), and inversely associated with the consumption of added sugar (beta = -0.49), phosphorus (beta= -0.27) and vitamin B-12 (beta = -10.80). Our findings showed important associations between dietary intake and miR-31 and miR-375 expression in HNSCC, offering possible directions for further studies investigating how nutrients interfere with carcinogenesis. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/01635581.2021.1990972 .