Increased expression of miR-21 predicts poor prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play critical roles in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development and progression. Aberrant miR-21 expression has been reported in several cancers. However, the clinical significance of miR-21 in human HCC is still unclear.


METHODS
A total of 112 patients with primary HCC who underwent a curative liver resection were included in this retrospective study. The differentially expressed amount of the miR-21 was validated by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Survival rate was analyzed by log-rank test, and survival curves were plotted according to Kaplan-Meier. Multivariate analysis of the prognostic factors was performed with Cox regression model.


RESULTS
As revealed by qRT-PCR analysis, miR-21 expression was significantly upregulated in HCC tissues when compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues (P<0.05). High miR-21 expression level was observed to be closely correlated with tumor differentiation, TNM stage and vein invasion (P<0.05). Patients who had high miR-21 expression had a shorter overall survival than patients who had low miR-21 expression (P<0.05). Moreover, multivariate analysis of the prognosis factors with a Cox proportional hazards model showed that high miR-21 expression was a significant independent predictor of poor survival in HCC (P<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggested that increased expression of miR-21 was significantly correlated with tumor progression and could be a novel potential biomarker for HCC prognosis.
Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Tumour Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou, 450008, China.
Chang-Shan
CS
Huang
Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Tumour Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou, 450008, China.
Wei
W
Yu
Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Tumour Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou, 450008, China.
Hong
H
Cui
Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Tumour Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou, 450008, China.
Yun-Jian
YJ
Wang
Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Tumour Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou, 450008, China.
Ling
L
Zhang
Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Tumour Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou, 450008, China.
Feng
F
Han
Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Tumour Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou, 450008, China.
Tao
T
Huang
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics*; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006498:Hepatectomy; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015854:Up-Regulation
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C524940:MIRN21 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs
hepatocellular carcinoma; miRNA-21; prognosis