title: miR-21 expression predicts prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim was to investigate the expression level of miR-21 in HCC tissues and its prognostic value among Asian population.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the present study, expression of miR-21 was evaluated by qRT- PCR in tumor and adjacent non-neoplastic tissues in 119 HCC patients. The association of miR-21 expression with clinicopathological factors and the prognosis of HCC patients was also analyzed. Survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox's proportional hazards model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that miR-21 expression was significantly higher in HCC tissues compared with normal adjacent liver tissues (P<0.0001). The 5-year overall survival (OS) of high miR-21 expression group was significantly shorter than that of low miR-21 expression group (40.2% vs. 70.7%; P=0.007). Moreover, the 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) of high miR-21 expression group was also significantly shorter than that of low miR-21 expression group (17.4% vs. 57.3%; P=0.001). Furthermore, in a multivariate Cox model, we found that miR-21 expression was an independent poor prognostic factor for both 5-year OS (hazards ratio [HR]=3.189, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.911-10.012, P=0.03) and 5-year DFS (HR=5.897, CI=3.009-13.763, P<0.001) in HCC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of the present study suggested miR-21 expression level could be a novel potential biomarker for HCC prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, The Second Hospital of Hebei Medical university, Shijiazhuang, 050000 Hebei, China. Electronic address: wangwenyaodoctor@126.com.
authors.forename: Wen-Yao
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, The Second Hospital of Hebei Medical university, Shijiazhuang, 050000 Hebei, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Fei
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, The Second Hospital of Hebei Medical university, Shijiazhuang, 050000 Hebei, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, The Second Hospital of Hebei Medical university, Shijiazhuang, 050000 Hebei, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Peng
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, The Second Hospital of Hebei Medical university, Shijiazhuang, 050000 Hebei, China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, The Second Hospital of Hebei Medical university, Shijiazhuang, 050000 Hebei, China.
authors.forename: Shao-Jun
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, The Second Hospital of Hebei Medical university, Shijiazhuang, 050000 Hebei, China.
authors.forename: Li-Chao
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: C524940:MIRN21 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs