title: Clinicopathological role of miR-30a-5p in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues and prediction of its function with bioinformatics analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It has been reported that deregulation or dysfunction of microRNAs (miRNAs) plays an essential part in the hepatocarcinogenesis. However, the contribution and mechanism of microRNA-30a-5p (miR-30a-5p) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains largely unknown. Therefore, our aim was to investigate the clinicopathological role of miR-30a-5p in HCC tissues and explore its potential pathways in this study.
  
  
  METHODS
  The expression of miR-30a-5p was measured in 95 HCC and adjacent noncancer tissues by real-time reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The relationship between miR-30a-5p expression levels and clinicopathological parameters was also analyzed. Furthermore, the potential target genes of miR-30a-5p were collected via online prediction and literature searching. Gene ontology and pathway enrichment analyses were used to identify the possible function of miR-30a-5p in HCC.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with adjacent noncancer tissues (2.23±0.77), expression level of miR-30a-5p was significantly lower in HCC tissues (1.26±0.66, P<0.001). MiR-30a-5p expression was evidently correlated with tumor nodes, metastasis, tumor-node-metastasis stage, portal vein tumor embolus, vascular invasion, and status of tumor capsule (all P<0.05). A total of 878 genes were finally used for the biological informatics analyses. These prospective target genes were highly enriched in various key pathways, for instance, Ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis, Axon guidance, Neurotrophin signaling pathway, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and ErbB signaling pathway.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In conclusion, this study clarifies that the downregulation of miRNA-30a-5p might play a vital part in the incidence and progression of HCC via targeting various prospective genes and pathways. Future validation is required to further explore the prospective molecular mechanism of miR-30a-5p in HCC.
authors: Department of Pathology.
authors: Wen-Ting
authors: WT
authors: Huang
authors: Department of Medical Oncology.
authors: Zu-Xuan
authors: ZX
authors: Chen
authors: Department of Medical Oncology.
authors: Rong-Quan
authors: RQ
authors: He
authors: Department of Pathology.
authors: Yu-Zhuang
authors: YZ
authors: Wu
authors: Department of Pathology.
authors: Shu-Ya
authors: SY
authors: Yin
authors: Department of Pathology.
authors: Xiao-Na
authors: XN
authors: Liang
authors: Department of Pathology.
authors: Gang
authors: G
authors: Chen
authors: Department of Ultrasonography, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China.
authors: Hong
authors: H
authors: Yang
authors: Department of Medical Oncology.
authors: Zhi-Gang
authors: ZG
authors: Peng
authors: Department of Medical Oncology.
authors: Li-Hua
authors: LH
authors: Yang
keywords: gene ontology analysis; hepatocellular carcinoma; miR-30a-5p; pathway analysis; progression; target genes