MicroRNA-374a Expression as a Prognostic Biomarker in Lung Adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Background: Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death, and adenocarcinoma is the most common histologic subtype. MicroRNA is a small non-coding RNA that inhibits multiple target gene expression at the post-transcriptional level and is commonly dysregulated in malignant tumors. The purpose of this study was to analyze the expression of microRNA-374a (miR-374a) in lung adenocarcinoma and correlate its expression with various clinicopathological characteristics.

Methods: The expression level of miR-374a was measured in 111 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded lung adenocarcinoma tissues using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays. The correlation between miR-374a expression and clinicopathological parameters, including clinical outcome, was further analyzed.

Results: High miR-374 expression was correlated with advanced pT category (chi-square test, p=.004) and pleural invasion (chi-square test, p=.034). Survival analysis revealed that patients with high miR-374a expression had significantly shorter disease-free survival relative to those with low miR-374a expression (log-rank test, p=.032).

Conclusions: miR-374a expression may serve as a potential prognostic biomarker for predicting recurrence in early stage lung adenocarcinoma after curative surgery.

Keywords: Adenocarcinoma; Lung neoplasms; MicroRNAs; Recurrence; Stage.

Fig. 1.

Kaplan-Meier survival curves of lung adenocarcinoma patients stratified based on miR-374a expression level. (A) Disease-free survival according to miR-374a expression (log-rank test, p=.032). (B) Overall survival according to miR-374a expression (log-rank test, p=.556). (C) Disease-free survival according to miR-374a expression only in American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage I patients (log-rank test, p=.006). (D) Disease-free survival according to miR-374a expression in AJCC stage II-III (log-rank test, p=.939).