title: Human epididymis protein 4 expression positively correlated with miR-21 and served as a prognostic indicator in ovarian cancer.
abstract: Ovarian cancer is the most common cause of gynecological malignancy-related mortality. Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) is a useful biomarker for ovarian cancer when either used alone or in combination with carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125). What is more, aberrant expression of microRNA-21 (miR-21) has been shown to be involved in oncogenesis, but the relationship between miR-21 and HE4 in ovarian cancer is not clear. Tumor and adjacent tumor tissues from 43 patients with ovarian cancer were examined. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of HE4 in the carcinoma and adjacent tissues. The associations between HE4 and tumor biological characters were discussed. TaqMan(®) MicroRNA (miRNA) assays were employed to detect the expression of miR-21 in the ovarian carcinoma. In ovarian cancer, the expression of HE4 messenger RNA (mRNA) in cancer tissues was higher than adjacent tumor tissues (P < 0.0001), which was 1.299-fold of adjacent tumor tissues. And, the expression of miR-21 was also up-regulated which was significantly different in the ovarian cancer (the positive rate was 76.74 %). There was a significantly positive correlation between miR-21 and HE4 expression (r = 0.283 and P = 0.066 for HE4 mRNA, r = 0.663 and P < 0.0001 for serum HE4). There was also a significant correlation between miR-21 and tumor grade (r = 0.608, P < 0.0001). Significantly, patients with recent recurrence (less than 6 months, n = 17) have a higher miR-21 expression than those with no recent recurrence. Therefore, HE4 and miR-21 may play an important role in the development and progression of ovarian cancer and they may serve as prognostic indicators in ovarian cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Mindong Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fu'an, China. 285980355@qq.com.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Medical Technology and Engineering College, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China.
authors.forename: Qingquan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China. lqc673673673@163.com.
authors.forename: Qicai
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015854:Up-Regulation; D000081102:WAP Four-Disulfide Core Domain Protein 2
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C524940:MIRN21 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs; D011506:Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D000081102:WAP Four-Disulfide Core Domain Protein 2; C569698:WFDC2 protein, human
keywords: Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4); Immunohistochemistry; MicroRNA-21; Ovarian tumor