Prognostic value of miR-93 overexpression in resectable gastric adenocarcinomas

Background and study aims : MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to be aberrantly expressed in many human carcinomas. Emerging evidence indicates that miR-93 plays important onco- genic roles in human carcinogenesis and is often up-regulated. However, its relationship with the clinicopathological features and prognosis of human gastric cancer (GC) has yet to be addressed. In this study, we investigate the expression and clinical significance of miR-93 in human gastric cancer. Patients and methods : 158 patients with gastric adenocarcinoma who had undergone gastrectomy were enrolled. Specimens includ- ing the tumor and non-neoplastic were detected for the expression of miR-93 by Real-Time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Furthermore, the correlation of miR-93 levels with clinicopathologic variables and prognosis was analyzed. Results : miR-93 was significantly up-regulated in 128 cases (81%) of the 158 gastric cancer (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the elevat- ed expression of miR-93 was significantly associated with advanced disease stage (P < 0.001), deep invasion level (P < 0.001) and the presence of nodal metastases (P < 0.001). Moreover, gastric cancer patients with high miR-93 expression levels had shorter overall survival (P = 0.001) and disease-free survival (P = 0.006) than that with low miR-93 expression levels. Conclusions : miR-93 is highly elevated in gastric cancer, espe- cially in advanced and metastasized gastric cancer, suggesting miR-93 may play critical roles in carcinogenesis of gastric cancer. Overexpression of miR-93 can serve as a novel prognostic marker for gastric cancer. (Acta gastroenterol. belg., 2012, 75, 22-27).