Increased Expression of miR-29a and Its Prognostic Significance in Patients with Cholangiocarcinoma

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to examine the expression level and prognostic value of microRNA-29a (miR-29a) in human cholangiocarcinoma (CCA).

Patients and methods: The expression of miR-29a was measured in tissues collected from 125 CCA patients using quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Survival analysis was carried out using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test. The prognostic value of miR-29a was examined with Cox regression analysis.

Results: The results of qRT-PCR demonstrated that miR-29a expression was significantly upregulated in CCA tissue samples compared with matched noncancerous samples. Overexpression of miR-29a was found to be correlated with lymph node metastasis, clinical stage, and differentiation of CCA. The Kaplan-Meier survival curves suggested that patients with high miR-29a levels had poor overall survival compared to those with low miR-29a expression. From the results of the Cox regression analysis, we considered increased miR-29a expression to be an independent prognostic factor for patients with CCA.

Conclusion: Our study data demonstrated that upregulated miR-29a expression is associated with progression of CCA and might act as a prognostic biomarker in CCA patients.