title: Prognostic significance of serum miRNA-21 expression in human non-small cell lung cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Deregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) plays important roles in tumor progression. The aim of this study was to investigate miR-21 expression in serum of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and its correlation with prognosis of NSCLC patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Dysregulated miRNAs in NSCLC serum were identified by microarray. MiR-21 expression in NSCLC and control serum was detected by TaqMan RT-PCR assay. The correlation of serum miR-21 with clinicopathological factors of NSCLC patients was analyzed. Furthermore, the prognostic significance of serum miR-21 was analyzed by using Kaplan-Meier curves with log-rank tests and a Cox proportional hazard model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The level of miR-21 expression was higher in NSCLC serum samples than in control serum samples (P < 0.01). High serum miR-21 was significantly correlated with tumor-node metastases stage and lymph node metastasis of NSCLC patients (P = 0.016 and 0.026, respectively). The 3-year actuarial overall survival rates in NSCLC patients with high serum miR-21 expression (39.8%) was significantly shorter than those with low serum miR-21 expression (58.2%; P < 0.001). Furthermore, univariate and multivariate analyses for overall survival showed that serum miR-21 expression was an independent prognostic factor for NSCLC patients (P = 0.015, RR = 2.01, 95% CI: 1.78-3.26).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum miR-21 expression might be useful as a prognostic marker for NSCLC patients.
authors: Department of Oncology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, PR China. wangzhaox@yahoo.com.cn
authors: Zhao-Xia
authors: ZX
authors: Wang
authors: Hai-Bo
authors: HB
authors: Bian
authors: Ji-Rong
authors: JR
authors: Wang
authors: Zhi-Xiang
authors: ZX
authors: Cheng
authors: Ke-Ming
authors: KM
authors: Wang
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: De
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D011379:Prognosis; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C524940:MIRN21 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs