Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2015 March, 235(3)

MicroRNA-141 Is a Biomarker for Progression of Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Adenocarcinoma of the Lung: Clinical Analysis of 125 Patients

XIULING ZHANG,¹ PING LI,¹ MINHUA RONG,² RONGQUAN HE,³ XINXI HOU,¹ YOU XIE¹ and GANG CHEN¹

¹Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, P.R. China
²Research Department, Affiliated Cancer Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, P.R. China
³Department of Medical Oncology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, P.R. China

Lung cancer is the most common malignant tumor worldwide. MicroRNA has become an ideal biomarker for cancer diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. The relationship between microRNA-141 and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is contradictory. Thus, in current study, we aimed to investigate the level of microRNA-141 in NSCLC tissues and to evaluate its potential clinical value. This study enrolled 125 NSCLC patients (75 males and 50 females) with a median age of 61 years (range, 23-90 years). NSCLC patients included 23 squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), 101 adenocarcinomas (ADCs) and 1 large cell carcinoma. The expression level of microRNA-141 was significantly higher in NSCLC tissues than in adjacent lung tissues (P < 0.001), detected by real time RT-PCR. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) exhibited a moderate diagnostic value of microRNA-141 for NSCLC with the area under curve of 0.707. The microRNA-141 expression increased with the larger tumor size (P = 0.002), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.018) and advanced stage (P = 0.022) in NSCLC patients. For subgroup analysis, microRNA-141 expression in SCC was correlated with tumor size (r = 0.490, P = 0.018), and in ADC, microRNA-141 level was positively associated with tumor size (r = 0.222, P = 0.026), lymph node metastasis (r = 0.242, P = 0.015) and TNM stage (r = 0.210, P = 0.035). Furthermore, univariate analysis revealed that the expression of microRNA-141 was an independent prognostic indicator of ADC. In conclusion, microRNA-141 is a potential biomarker for the molecular diagnosis and risk stratification of NSCLC.

keywords —— adenocarcinoma; microRNA-141; non-small cell lung cancer; squamous cell carcinoma; survival

© 2015 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2015, 235, 161-169

Correspondence: Gang Chen, Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 530021, P.R. China.

e-mail: chen_gang_triones@163.com