title: Expression of miR-203 is decreased and associated with the prognosis of melanoma patients.
abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are a class of small, non-coding RNAs that can regulate the gene expression in various diseases. MicroRNA-203 (miRNA-203 or miR-203) has previously shown significant alteration in a number of cancers. However, the clinical value of miR-203 in melanoma is rarely reported. The present study aimed to clarify the expression pattern and prognostic role of miR-203 in melanoma patients. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis was used to characterize the expression level of miR-203 in 148 cases of melanoma tissues and adjacent non-cancerous tissues. Results showed that miR-203 expression was significantly decreased in melanoma tissues compared with that in adjacent non-cancerous tissues (P<0.05). Additionally, chi-square was performed to analyze the relationship between miR-203 and clinicopathological features and the down-regulation of miR-203 was significantly associated with tumor thickness and tumor stage (P<0.05). Moreover, Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that low miR-203 expression was associated with short overall survival time of patients. Multivariate analysis indicated that miR-203 could be an independent prognostic marker (P=0.003, HR=2.851, 95% CI=1.439-5.650) in melanoma This study for the first time provided evidence that miR-203 could be an independent potential prognostic marker for patients with melanoma, and might even become a new therapeutic target for the treatment of melanoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery, Henan Provincial People's Hospital Zhengzhou, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery, Henan Provincial People's Hospital Zhengzhou, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Zheng-Wen
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C546703:MIRN203 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Melanoma; mir-203; prognosis