Abstract 815: Relationship between altered expression levels of MIR21, MIR143, MIR145, and MIR205 and clinicopathologic features of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC)

Abstract

Abstract Background. In spite of the undisputed importance of altered expression patterns of miRNAs in various cancers, there is little information on the clinicopathologic significance of cancer-related miRNAs (i.e., MIR21, MIR143, MIR144, MIR145, and MIR205) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods. We examined the expression levels of the precursor and mature miRNA genes in ESCC using Real-Time PCR. Furthermore, we investigated the relationships between the expression levels of these five miRNAs and the clinicopathologic parameters of ESCC patients. Results. The expression levels of pre-MIR21 and pre-MIR144 were lower in ESCC than in the corresponding normal esophageal epithelium (p < 0.05). The expression levels of mature MIR21 and mature MIR145 were higher in ESCC than those in normal epithelium (p < 0.05). The mature/pre ratio of MIR21 in ESCC was higher than that in normal epithelium (p < 0.05). In the other cancer-related miRNAs, the mature/pre ratio followed a similar tendency to MIR21. Furthermore, altered expression of these miRNAs was related to the clinicopathologic features of ESCC patients. The high expression of mature MIR21 and mature MIR205 was associated with lymph node positivity in ESCC patients (p < 0.05). The high levels of expression of mature MIR143 and mature MIR145 were associated with recurrence of metastasis in ESCC patients (p <0.05). Conclusions. The findings may imply that the processing of pre-miRNAs into mature miRNA is accelerated in ESCC. Analysis of the expression levels of miRNAs should provide useful information for evaluation of the staging, prognosis, and treatment of ESCC patients. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 815.