title: Overexpression of miR-223 correlates with tumor metastasis and poor prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer.
abstract: The purpose of the study was to investigate microRNA-223 (miR-223) expression in colorectal cancer (CRC) and its relationship with tumorigenesis and disease prognosis. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to measure levels of miR-223 in tumor samples and adjacent non-cancerous tissues from 62 patients undergoing radical resection for the treatment of CRC. The associations between miR-223 expression and patient age, sex, as well as clinicopathologic parameters, such as tumor size, differentiation, location, invasion depth, metastasis, tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage, and overall patient survival, were analyzed by Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were performed to estimate the prognostic factors for patient survival prediction. The expression of miR-223 was significantly upregulated in CRC tissues compared with adjacent non-cancerous tissues (P < 0.05). This overexpression was associated with TNM stage and lymph node and distant metastases, (P < 0.05). Moreover, Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that patients with high miR-223 expression had a poorer overall survival (OS) than those with low miR-223 expression (P = 0.002). Univariate analysis revealed a statistically significant correlation between OS and miR-223 level, histology grade, metastasis and TNM stage (P < 0.001). Furthermore, miR-223 levels and histology grade were independently associated with OS (HR 0.204, 95 % CI 0.101-0.415, P < 0.05 and HR 2.252, 95 % CI 1.429-3.546, P < 0.05, respectively). The overexpression of miR-223 may play an important role in the progression of CRC and can be used as an independent factor to determine CRC prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, Qilu Hospital, Shandong University, 107 Wenhua Xi Road, Jinan, 250012, Shandong Province, China.
authors.forename: Ze-wu
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yong-mei
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Lu-tao
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Zhaogang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Li-li
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xuan-jun
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Gui-xi
authors.initials: GX
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Ai-lin
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: Chuan-xin
authors.initials: CX
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D035683:MicroRNAs; C525067:MIR223, human