Prognostic value of microRNAs in colorectal cancer: a meta-analysis

Abstract

BackgroundNumerous studies have shown that miRNA levels are closely related to the survival time of patients with colon, rectal, or colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the outcomes of different investigations have been inconsistent. Accordingly, a meta-analysis was conducted to study associations among the three types of cancers.Materials and methodsStudies published in English that estimated the expression levels of miRNAs with survival curves in CRC were identified until May 20, 2017 by online searches in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library by two independent authors. Pooled HRs with 95% CIs were used to estimate the correlation between miRNA expression and overall survival.ResultsA total of 63 relevant articles regarding 13 different miRNAs, with 10,254 patients were ultimately included. CRC patients with high expression of blood miR141 (HR 2.52, 95% CI 1.68–3.77), tissue miR21 (HR 1.31, 95% CI 1.12–1.53), miR181a (HR 1.52, 95% CI 1.26–1.83), or miR224 (HR 2.12, 95% CI 1.04–4.34), or low expression of tissue miR126 (HR 1.55, 95% CI 1.24–1.93) had significantly poor overall survival (P<0.05).ConclusionIn general, blood miR141 and tissue miR21, miR181a, miR224, and miR126 had significant prognostic value. Among these, blood miR141 and tissue miR224 were strong biomarkers of prognosis for CRC.

Evaluation the Possibility of Using of miRNA-21 as a Prognostic and Predictive Factor in Colorectal Cancer (South Egypt Experience)

“…Moreover, we found strong significant association with DFS and OS which agree with previous researches like Tsukamotoet al [30], Xia et al [27] and Gao et al [31]. But our results failed to find association with PFS however similar results were published before by Jie et al [5].…”

Tissue micro-RNAs associated with colorectal cancer prognosis: a systematic review

“…However, in that review, studies that analyzed the expression of miRs in different types of samples such as serum, plasma and tissue and performing other methods of detection, as immunohistochemistry, were considered, so they presented miRs not identified in the present study. Nevertheless, the findings of the review by Gao et al and the present review demonstrate similar results regarding the analysis of miRs expression in tumor tissues associated with the prognostic aspects of CRC, that is, the upregulation of miR-181a, miR-224, miR-21 and miR-126 downregulation were also present associated with worse overall survival in CRC patients 21 .…”

“…Several studies investigate the importance of miRs expression in CRC prognosis 7–9, 11, 21–23 . However, there is a lack of systematic reviews in the Literature integrating and identifying the main miRs significantly associated with the prognostic aspects of CRC.…”

Letter to the editor &ldquo;Prognostic value of microRNAs in colorectal cancer: a meta-analysis&rdquo;

“…The systematic review and meta-analyses published by Gao et al 1 regarding the topic of microRNAs as prognostic markers in colorectal cancer (CRC) has been of great interest to us. Although previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses highlighting the prognostic value of miRNAs as prognostic markers in CRC exist, each of those studies is primarily focused on a single miRNA per study.…”

“…Although previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses highlighting the prognostic value of miRNAs as prognostic markers in CRC exist, each of those studies is primarily focused on a single miRNA per study. 2 , 3 Gao et al, 1 via this expansive study, have managed to assess and highlight the prognostic utility of a variety of miRNAs in CRC. Both miR-21 and miR-181 have been highlighted in previous studies as being potential prognostic markers, but interestingly, Gao et al’s 1 study is the first to highlight miR-224 and miR-141 as strong prognostic biomarkers, specifically in CRC.…”