Downregulation of microRNA-124 is an independent prognostic factor in patients with colorectal cancer

• Published in: International journal of colorectal disease 2013-02, Vol.28 (2), p.183-189
• Main Authors: Wang, Mo-Jin, Li, Yuan, Wang, Rui, Wang, Cun, Yu, Yong-Yang, Yang, Lie, Zhang, Yi, Zhou, Bin, Zhou, Zong-Guang, Sun, Xiao-Feng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Analysis; Cancer patients; Care and treatment; Colorectal cancer; Colorectal Neoplasms - genetics; Colorectal Neoplasms - pathology; Development and progression; Disease-Free Survival; Down-Regulation - genetics; Female; Gastroenterology; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Hepatology; Humans; Internal Medicine; Intestinal Mucosa - metabolism; Intestinal Mucosa - pathology; Male; MEDICIN; MEDICINE; Medicine & Public Health; MicroRNA; MicroRNA-124; MicroRNAs - genetics; MicroRNAs - metabolism; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Neoplasm Grading; Neoplasm Invasiveness; Original Article; Proctology; Prognosis; Proportional Hazards Models; Quantitative real-time PCR; Software; Surgery; Survival; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0179-1958; 1432-1262; 1432-1262
• DOI: 10.1007/s00384-012-1550-3

Purpose Recently, microRNA-124 (miR-124) has been demonstrated as a potential tumor suppressor in several types of cancers. However, the role of miR-124 in colorectal cancer remains unclear. This study was aimed at investigating the clinicopathological significance of miR-124 expression in colorectal cancer. Methods Quantitative real-time PCR was used to analyze miR-124 expression in 96 colorectal cancers and individual-matched normal mucosa samples. The expression of miR-124 was assessed for associations with clinicopathological characteristics using chi-square test. The survival curves were calculated by the Kaplan–Meier method. The influence of each variable on survival was examined by the Cox multivariate regression analysis. Results The miR-124 expression was significantly downregulated in colorectal cancer compared to normal mucosa ( P  = 0.001). In colorectal cancer, miR-124 decreased expression correlated significantly with the grade of differentiation ( P  = 0.021). Univariate survival analysis showed that the downregulated miR-124 was significantly correlated with worse prognosis, both in terms of overall survival ( P  = 0.017) and disease-free survival (DFS) ( P  = 0.014). Further, the downregulated miR-124 was demonstrated as a prognostic factor for overall survival (hazard ratio, HR = 4.634; 95 % confidence interval, CI, 1.731–12.404; P  = 0.002) and DFS (HR = 4.533, 95 % CI 1.733–11.856, P  = 0.002), independently of gender, age, location, maximum tumor size, depth of invasion, differentiation, and TNM stage. Conclusions MiR-124 may play a certain role in the development of colorectal cancer. The downregulation expression of miR-124 is an independent prognostic factor in patients with colorectal cancer.