Upregulation of miR-522 is associated with poor outcome of hepatocellular carcinoma

Y.-H. Shi, B.-B. Qi, X.-B. Liu, H.-M. Ding

Department of General Surgery, Department of Endocrinology; The Third People’s Hospital of Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, China. pqsh333@yeah.net

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• Oncology

OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to explore the clinicopathologic and prognostic significance of miR-522 expression in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: The expression of miR-522 in 161 HCC tissues and adjacent non-tumor tissues was examined using quantitative real-time-PCR. The association of miR-522 expression with clinicopathological features and the prognosis of HCC patients were also analyzed. The overall survival (OS) was analyzed by log-rank test. Cox regression models were fitted to analyze the effect of prognostic factors on OS.

RESULTS: The relative level of miR-522 was significantly higher in HCC tissues compared to the adjacent normal liver tissues. In addition, miR-522 upregulation more frequently occurred in HCC specimens with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.000), and tumor grade (p = 0.002). Moreover, the level of miR-522 expression was markedly correlated with the HCC patients’ overall survival (p < 0.000). In the Cox proportional hazard model, the results showed that miR-522 overexpression was an independent prognostic factor for OS

CONCLUSIONS: Overexpression of miR-522 functions as an unfavorable prognostic biomarker in HCC patients.

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