title: Increased expression of miR-15b is associated with clinicopathological features and poor prognosis in cervical carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aims of this study were to explore the expression of microRNA-15b (miR-15b) in cervical carcinoma and to correlate its expression with clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis was conducted to quantify the expression level of miR-15b in 607 cervical tissues, including 185 cervical carcinoma tissues, 124 CIN I lesions, 148 CIN II-III lesions, and 150 normal cervical tissues. The 5-year overall cumulative survival rates for all patients with cervical carcinoma were calculated using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, and multivariate survival analysis of these patients was completed using the stepwise Cox proportional hazards regression model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The expression of miR-15b gradually increased from normal cervical tissues to CIN lesions and then to cervical carcinoma tissues (all P < 0.05), and it was strongly correlated with degree of differentiation, clinical stage, tumor diameter, and lymph-node metastases (all P < 0.05). When the median value of miR-15b expression was used as the cut-off point, patients with high miR-15b expression (above the median) had worse 5-year overall cumulative survival rates than those who exhibited low miR-15b expression (below the median; P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis using the Cox regression model identified miR-15b expression, clinical stage, tumor diameter, and lymph-node metastasis as independent risk factors for cervical carcinoma prognosis (all P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results indicate that elevated miRNA-15b expression is a typical feature in cervical carcinoma, which could be a useful clinical predictor for the early diagnosis and evaluation of cervical carcinoma prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology, Jingzhou Central Hospital, The Second Clinical Medical College, Yangtze University, No. 60, Jingzhong Road, Jingzhou District, Jingzhou, 434020, Hubei, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology, Jingzhou Central Hospital, The Second Clinical Medical College, Yangtze University, No. 60, Jingzhong Road, Jingzhou District, Jingzhou, 434020, Hubei, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jia-Zhen
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology, Jingzhou Central Hospital, The Second Clinical Medical College, Yangtze University, No. 60, Jingzhong Road, Jingzhou District, Jingzhou, 434020, Hubei, People's Republic of China. wangxianrong2016@sina.com.
authors.forename: Xian-Rong
authors.initials: XR
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000032:analysis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012307:Risk Factors; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: C505361:MIRN15 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Cervical carcinoma; Clinicopathological features; Expression; Prognosis; microRNA-15b