title: Association between underexpression of microrna-203 and clinicopathological significance in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although recent studies have shown the utility of miR-203 as a cancer-relevant biomarker, the validated clinical significance of miR-203 in HCC remains obscure. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between miR-203 expression and clinicopathological features in HCC patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  MiR-203 expression in 95 formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded (FFPE) HCC tissues and their paired adjacent non-cancerous tissues was evaluated by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Simultaneously, expression of miR-203 and its correlation with a variety of clinicopathological parameters and patient recurrence was analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The relative level of miR-203 was 1.1651 ± 0.70378 in HCC tissues, significantly lower than its expression in the corresponding adjacent non-cancerous liver tissues (2.2408 ± 0.75351, P < 0.001). The area under curve (AUC) of low miR-203 expression to diagnose HCC was 0.85 (95 % CI: 0.796 ~ 0.904, P = 0.027) at a cut-off value 1.99 evaluated by the median expression of miR-203 in all tissues, including HCC and normal liver tissues. Expression of miR-203 was negatively correlated to metastasis (r = -0.254, P = 0.013), clinical tumor nodes metastasis (TNM) stage (r = -0.300, P = 0.003), nm23 expression (r = -0.292, P = 0.004), p21 expression (r = -0.223, P = 0.030), microvessel density (MVD)(r = -0.206, P = 0.045) and was positively correlated to cirrhosis (r = 0.487, P < 0.001). Additionally, the recurrent time of lower miR-203 expression group was 57.949 ± 4.184 months, slightly longer than that in the high expression group (54.682 ± 2.591 months), however, no significant difference was noted (Chi-square = 0.206, P = 0.650).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MiR-203 plays a vital role in the carcinogenesis and progression of HCC, which makes itself as a predictor for the deterioration of HCC. Furthermore, miR-203 may become a new target for molecular therapy in HCC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 530021 P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yongru
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 530021 P. R. China.
authors.forename: Fanghui
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Research Department, Affiliated Cancer Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, 71 Hedi Road, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 530021 P. R. China.
authors.forename: Minhua
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rong
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 530021 P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yihuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 530021 P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yiwu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 530021 P. R. China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen
keywords: Adjacent non-cancerous liver; HCC; Metastasis; MiR-203; RT-qPCR