title: Elevated expression of miR-24-3p is a potentially adverse prognostic factor in colorectal adenocarcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Several miRNAs are aberrantly expressed in cancer. miR-24-3p is involved in cancer-related cellular processes, including cell cycle control, cell growth, proliferation, and apoptosis. In this study, we examined the potential diagnostic and prognostic significance of miR-24-3p expression in colorectal adenocarcinoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Total RNA was isolated from 182 colorectal adenocarcinoma specimens and 86 paired non-cancerous colorectal mucosae. After polyadenylation of 2μg total RNA and reverse transcription into first-strand cDNA using an oligo-dT-adapter primer, miR-24-3p expression was quantified using an in-house-developed reverse-transcription real-time quantitative PCR method, based on the SYBR Green chemistry. SNORD43 (RNU43) was used as a reference gene.
  
  
  RESULTS
  miR-24-3p levels do not significantly differ between colorectal adenocarcinoma and non-cancerous colorectal mucosae. Thus, miR-24-3p expression cannot be used for diagnostic purposes. However, high miR-24-3p expression predicts poor disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) of colorectal adenocarcinoma patients. Multivariate Cox regression analysis confirmed that miR-24-3p overexpression is a significant predictor of relapse in colorectal adenocarcinoma and that its prognostic significance is independent of other established prognostic factors and treatment of patients. Of note, miR-24-3p overexpression retains its rather unfavorable prognostic value in the subgroup of patients with advanced yet locally restricted colorectal adenocarcinoma (T3) and in those without distant metastasis (M0). Moreover, miR-24-3p overexpression is a potentially unfavorable prognosticator for patients who were not treated with radiotherapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Strong expression of miR-24-3p predicts poor DFS and OS of colorectal adenocarcinoma patients, independently of clinicopathological parameters that are currently used for prognosis in this human malignancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens GR-15701, Greece.
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kerimis
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens GR-15701, Greece.
authors.forename: Christos K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Kontos
authors.affiliation: Fourth Surgery Department, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, University General Hospital "Attikon", Athens GR-12462, Greece.
authors.forename: Spyridon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Christodoulou
authors.affiliation: Fourth Surgery Department, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, University General Hospital "Attikon", Athens GR-12462, Greece.
authors.forename: Iordanis N
authors.initials: IN
authors.lastname: Papadopoulos
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens GR-15701, Greece. Electronic address: ascorilas@biol.uoa.gr.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scorilas
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015996:Survival Rate; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C543845:MIRN24 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Colon cancer; Molecular tumor markers; Prognosis; Prognostic biomarkers; Reverse-transcription real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR); miRNA-24; microRNA-24