Expression and its significance of serum microRNA-574-3p in hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

Objective To explore the expression and diagnostic value of serum microRNA-574-3p (miR-574-3p) in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods A total of 90 patients with HBV-related HCC,40 patients with HBV-related liver cirrhosis (LC) and 50 healthy controls were recruited.The expression levels of serum miR-574-3p,α-fetoprotein (AFP) and α-Lfucosidase (AFU) of all subjects were determined.The difference of serum miR-574-3p level between groups was compared.The relation between serum miR-574-3p level of HCC patients and its clinical pathological characteristics was analyzed.The t-test was performed.The relationship between serum miR-574-3p level of HCC patients and AFP,AFU was analyzed by Spearman correlation analysis.The diagnostic efficacy of them as diagnostic markers was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) and the area under the curve (AUC)(95％ CI (confidence interval)).Results The relative quantity expression of serum miR-574-3p of HCC group,LC group and healthy group was 2.152(1.654,3.061),1.292 (0.984,1.666) and 1.018 (0.750,1.726),respectively.The expression level of serum miR-574-3p of HCC group was significantly higher than those of LC group and healthy control group,and the differences were statistically significant (t=2.726 and 2.845,both P＜0.01).The expression level of serum miR-574-3p of HCC patients was significantly different in tumors with different degree of differentiation (t=2.262,P=0.039),different stage (t=2.354,P=0.025) and different HBV DNA concentrations (t=2.771,P＜0.01).There was no correlation between serum miR-574-3p level and AFP (r2 =0.076,P=0.505),AFU (r2 =0.082,P=0.422) in HCC patients.When compared HCC group with LC group,AUC of serum miR-574-3p of was 0.823 and 95％ CI was 0.750 to 0.897.When compared HCC group with healthy control group,AUC of serum miR-574-3p was 0.840 and 95％CI was 0.769 to 0.910.Conclusions The expression level of serum miR-574-3p of HCC patients is significantly higher than those of LC patients and healthy controls.Serum miR-574-3p may be an important biomarker in the diagnosis of HCC. Key words: Hepatitis B virus; Carcinoma, hepatocellular; miR-574-3p