Affiliations: Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Luhe Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 101199, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Hongbing Zhang, Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Luhe Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 101199, China.. Tel.: +86 10 69543901; Fax: +86 10 69555440; E-mail:hb_zhang0626@sina.com
Abstract: BACKGROUND: MicroRNA (miR)-376 family play crucial roles in cancer
formation and progression. OBJECTIVE: To investigate expression patterns of circulating
miR-376 members in glioma patients, and to explore their diagnostic and
prognostic values. METHODS: Expression of miR-376 members in serum samples from 100
glioma patients and 50 healthy controls were detected by quantitative
real-time PCR. RESULTS: Serum miR-376a, miR-376b and miR-376c in glioma patients
were significantly lower than those in healthy controls (all P< 0.05). Their
expression could efficiently distinguish the glioma patients from healthy
controls according to the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis
[for miR-376a, the area under ROC curve (AUC) = 0.872, the optimal cut-off
value = 1.95, the sensitivity = 81.0% and the specificity = 82.0%; for
miR-376b, AUC = 0.890, the optimal cut-off value = 2.07, the
sensitivity = 82.0% and the specificity = 78.0%; for miR-376c, AUC = 0.837,
the optimal cut-off value = 2.12, the sensitivity = 90.0% and the
specificity = 70.0%; all P<0. 001]. Decreased expression of miR-376a,
miR-376b and miR-376c in patients' sera were significantly associated with
advanced WHO grade (all P< 0.01) and low KPS (all P< 0.05). Kaplan-Meier and
Cox regression analyses showed that low miR-376a, miR-376b and miR-376c
expression, and high grade were all independent factors predicting poor
outcome of glioma patients. Notably, subgroup analyses showed that serum
miR-376a, miR-376b and miR-376c levels had more significant prognostic
values in patients with high grade gliomas than those with low grade gliomas. CONCLUSIONS: Aberrant expression of the miR-376 family may be
involved into tumorigenesis and tumor progression of human gliomas.
Circulating miR-376a, miR-376b and miR-376c may be promising non-invasive
biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis in glioma patients.
