High expression of serum miR-17-5p associated with poor prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

摘要

Background/Aims: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to play pivotal roles in diverse biological processes. Altered expressions of miR-17-5p in several tumor types have been reported. However, the expression and clinical significance of serum miR-17-5p in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are unclear. Methodology: The expression of miR-17-5p was measured in the serum of paired pre-operative and post-operative groups (n=96) as well as non-relapsed and relapsed groups (n=40) by qRT-PCR. Further study was performed to analyze the correlation of miR-17-5p expression with clinicopathologic variables and the relationship between miR-17-5p expression and the prognosis of HCC patients. Results: The expression of serum miR-17-5p was significantly down-regulated in the post-operative group and up-regulated in the relapsed group. Moreover, the expression of serum miR-17-5p was remarkably associated with the metastasis status and TNM stages (p<0.0001). Importantly, Kaplan-Meier curve analysis revealed that HCC patients with high expression of serum miR-17-5p had a significantly shortened overall survival (p=0.003). Univariate and multivariable Cox regression analysis indicated that the expression of serum miR-17-5p was an independent risk factor for overall survival (p=0.005 and p=0.043, respectively). Conclusions: The level of serum miR-17-5p is associated with development of HCC and can serve as a non-invasive biomarker for the prognostic prediction of HCC patients.