Circulating miRNA-199a and miRNA-122 Levels as Potential Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarkers for Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression and metastasis. However, it is unclear whether they could act as biomarkers for HCC diagnosis and prognosis. METHODS: In this study, the miR-122 and miR-199a expression levels were determined by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The function and molecular mechanism of miR-122 and miR-199a target genes were analyzed by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. Correlation between miRNA expression levels and the overall survival (OS) of HCC patients was assessed by Kaplan-Meier analysis. RESULTS: <0.001), suggesting that miR-122 could be a prognostic biomarker for HCC. CONCLUSIONS: Collectively, our results showed that circulating miR-199a and miR-122 levels could serve as novel, non-invasive biomarkers for HCC diagnosis and prognosis, respectively.