Survival prediction of gastric cancer by a seven-microRNA signature.
OBJECTIVE
Several microarray studies have reported microRNA (miRNA) expression signatures that classify cancer patients into different prognostic groups. No study has evaluated the association between miRNA expression patterns and gastric cancer prognosis. In this study, we developed a seven-miRNA signature that is closely associated with survival of patients with gastric cancer.


METHODS
MiRNA expression profile was analysed by real-time RT-PCR in 100 gastric cancer patients, which were randomly assigned to either the training set or the testing set. Cox proportional hazard regression and risk-score analysis were used to identify a stage-independent set of seven-miRNA signature in the training set that could classify patients with significantly different prognosis. This miRNA signature was further validated by the testing set and an independent cohort 60 patients.


RESULTS
We have identified a seven-miRNA signature (miR-10b, miR-21, miR-223, miR-338, let-7a, miR-30a-5p, miR-126) for overall survival (p=0.0009) and relapse-free survival (p=0.0005) of gastric cancer patients. Multivariate analysis shown that the risk signature was an independent predictor of overall survival (HR=3.046; 95% CI, 1.246 to 7.445, p=0.015) and relapse-free survival (HR=3.337; 95% CI, 1.298 to 8.580, p=0.012). Furthermore, the predictive value of this seven-miRNA signature was validated in the testing set of 50 patients and an independent set of 60 patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Our seven-miRNA signature is closely associated with relapse-free and overall survival among patients with gastric cancer. The prognostic signature could be applicable to future decisions concerning treatment.
Li
Xiaohua
X
State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology & Xijing Hospital of Digestive Diseases, The Fourth Military Medical University, 17 Changle Western Road, Xi'an, China.
Zhang
Ying
Y
Zhang
Yafei
Y
Ding
Jie
J
Wu
Kaichun
K
Fan
Daiming
D
D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D035683:MicroRNAs; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm