Association between downexpression of MiR-203 and poor prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer patients

ABSTRACT

Background and aim: Although miR-203 has been proposed as a relevant biomarker for several cancers, the validated prognostic significance of miR-203 in lung cancer remains obscure. Thus, we aimed to identify the relationship between miR-203 expression and clinicopathological significance in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients in the current study. Methods: The expression of miR-203 in 125 cases of NSCLC and their paired adjacent non-cancerous tissues was evaluated by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Simultaneously, the correlation of miR-203 expression with a variety of clinicopathological factors and patient survival was analyzed. Functionally, in vitro effects of miR-203 on proliferation and viability were explored in lung cancer H460, A549, H1299, PC9 and H292 cells, as assessed by MTS tetrazolium assay and fluorimetric resorufin viability assay, respectively. Results: The relative level of miR-203 was 6.12 ± 6.25 in NSCLC tissues, remarkably downregulated than that of their paired non-tumorous lung tissues (7.88 ± 5.56, P = 0.019). The area under curve (AUC) of low expression of miR-203 to diagnose NSCLC was 0.622 (95 % CI 0.552–0.692, P = 0.001). MiR-203 expression was negatively correlated to lymphatic metastasis (r = -0.334, P < 0.001), tumor size (r = -0.407, P < 0.001) and clinical TNM stages (r = -0.298, P = 0.001). Furthermore, the survival of the low miR-203 expression group was 4.88 ± 4.38 months, markedly shorter than that of the high expression group (23.35 ± 1.12 months, P < 0.001). The level of miR-203 was an independent prognostic indicator of NSCLC using univariate analysis. MiR-203 mimic could suppress the cell growth of five lung cancer cell lines tested to different degrees in vitro. Conclusions: MiR-203 could become a prognostic predictor in NSCLC and may be a new target for the molecular therapy of NSCLC patients (AU)

RESUMEN

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