Identification of recurrence-related serum microRNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma following hepatectomy.

ABSTRACT: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most deadly tumors. Prognosis of patients with HCC is generally poor due to the high recurrence rate. In the present study, TaqMan Real-time PCR microRNA Array was used to identify differentially expressed miRNAs from 10 tumor tissue samples (5 from recurrence group vs. 5 from non-recurrence group) and the matched serum samples. Four differentially expressed miRNAs (miR-486-5p, miR-422a, miR-125b and miR-139-5p) were further quantified in 20 tumor tissues and 116 HCC patients' serum before they received hepatectomy. Univariate analysis revealed that miR-486-5p, miR-422a and miR-125b were significantly associated with patients' relapse free survival (RFS). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that miR-486-5p, AFP and microvascular invasion (MVI) were the independent prognostic factors associated with RFS in this cohort (p = 0.000, 0.043, 0.000, respectively). Besides, the expression levels of miR-486-5p were positively correlated in tumor tissues and the paired serum samples, so was miR-422a. The probability of the prognostic accuracy of miR-486-5p in predicting postoperative recurrence of HCC within the first year was 76.79% (65.38% specificity and 81.58% sensitivity), which was almost equal to the classifier established by combination of AFP and MVI (75.98% probability, 63.13% specificity and 85.90% sensitivity). Furthermore, the combination of AFP, MVI and miR-486-5p yielded a ROC curve area of 88.02% (69.20% specificity and 92.10% sensitivity). Our study was the first to identify that serum miR-486-5p could be used to stratify the patients with higher recurrence risk before hepatic resection and potentially guide more effective surveillance strategies for them.

SUBMITTER: Wang L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4846138 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature