MicroRNA-200c and microRNA-141 as potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for ovarian cancer

Abstract

Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of female death globally due to its low survival rates. Thus, improved approaches for ovarian cancer detection are urgently needed. MicroRNAs as a new class of biomarkers have been explored in recent studies. This study was trying to identify and validate the two kinds of serum microRNA (miR-200c and miR-141) as biomarkers for ovarian cancer. We extracted serum samples from 74 epithelial ovarian cancer patients, 19 borderline ovarian cancer, and 50 healthy controls. Relative expression of these miRNA markers were measured by quantificational real-time polymerase chain reaction assay (qRT-PCR). Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) and area under the ROC curve (AUC) were used to validate the diagnostic value of miR-200c and miR-141. Kaplan-Meier curve and the log-rank test were conducted to detect the prognostic value of miR-200c and miR-141. miR-200c and miR-141 were significantly elevated in the epithelial ovarian cancer patients compared to healthy controls. The relative expression level of miR-200c showed a descending trend from early stages to advanced stages, while the level of miR-141 displayed an escalating trend. Patients with high miR-200c level achieved significantly a higher 2-year survival rate compared with the other group (P < 0.001), while low miR-141 group showed a significantly higher survival rate. The results of the current study suggested that serum miR-200c and miR-141 were able to discriminate the ovarian cancer patients from healthy controls. In addition, miR-200c and miR-141 may be predictive biomarkers for ovarian cancer prognosis. Further large-scale studies are still needed to confirm our findings.

Prognostic value of miR-141 downregulation in gastric cancer

“…Tejero et al (2014) found that high miR-141 expression was associated with shorter overall survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Gao and Wu (2015) found that serum miR-141 levels were significantly elevated in epithelial ovarian cancer patients compared to healthy controls, and patients with low miR-141 levels showed a significantly higher rate of survival. Therefore, expression level of miR-141 may be a predictive biomarker for ovarian cancer prognosis.…”

The Functions of MicroRNA-200 Family in Ovarian Cancer: Beyond Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition

“…In a study of serum miR-200 levels in 74 ovarian cancer patients, both miR-200c and miR-141 were significantly elevated in cancer sera than in healthy control [126]. However, the two miR-200 members showed discordant prognostic values.…”

“…However, the two miR-200 members showed discordant prognostic values. Only high miR-200c levels and low miR-141 levels were significantly associated with a good survival rate [126]. In a study to compare pre/post-treatment variations of plasma miR-200b levels in ovarian cancer, patients with reducing plasma miR-200b levels showed a longer progression-free survival than those patients with increasing miR-200b levels, and the patients with increasing miR-200b levels had a higher risk of disease progression [125].…”

Demethylation drug 5-Aza-2′-deoxycytidine-induced upregulation of miR-200c inhibits the migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of clear cell renal cell carcinoma in vitro

“…Deregulation of miR-200c has been identified to be associated with various types of human cancer, including ovarian, breast, prostate, gastric and bladder cancer (10)(11)(12)(13)(14). miR-200c has been identified as being frequently downregulated in ccRCC (15).…”