Abstract
BackgroundMicroRNA-21 (miR-21) has been suggested to play a significant role in the prognosis of carcinoma. The recognition of novel biomarkers for the prediction of cancer outcomes is urgently required. However, the potential prognostic value of miR-21 in various types of human malignancy remains controversial. The present meta-analysis summarises and analyses the associations between miR-21 status and overall survival (OS) in a variety of tumours.MethodsEligible published studies were identified by searching the PubMed and Chinese Biomedicine databases. The patients’ clinical characteristics and survival results were pooled, and a pooled hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) was used to calculate the strength of this association. A random-effects model was adopted, and then, meta-regression and subgroup analyses were performed. In addition, an analysis of publication bias was also conducted.ResultsTwenty-seven eligible articles (including 31 studies) were identified that included survival data for 3273 patients. The pooled HR suggested that high miR-21 was clearly related to worse overall survival (HR = 2.27, 95% CI: 1.81-2.86), with a heterogeneity measure index of I2 = 76.0%, p = 0.001, showing that miR-21 might be a considerable prognostic factor for poor survival in cancer patients.ConclusionsMiR-21 might be a potentially useful biomarker for predicting cancer prognosis in future clinical applications.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2407-14-819) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
MicroRNA-21 has been suggested to play a significant role in the prognosis of carcinoma
Some studies have confirmed that miR-21 down-regulates four tumour suppressor genes: maspin, programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4), tropomyosin1 (TPM1) and phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), which are all involved in tumourigenesis, cell cycle control, apoptosis and metastasis [16,17,18,19,20]
There is some evidence that indicates that the level of miR-21 expression is significantly associated with the prognosis of tumour patients, suggesting that it might serve as a prognostic marker for human malignancy [21]
Summary
MicroRNA-21 (miR-21) has been suggested to play a significant role in the prognosis of carcinoma. Previous studies have showed that miRNAs are involved in regulating many urgent biological processes, such as cellular differentiation, proliferation, metabolism, MiR-21 stands out as the most commonly dramatically up-regulated miRNA in both solid and haematological malignancies [7], and it is associated with clinicopathological factors in a considerable proportion of human malignancies [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]. There is some evidence that indicates that the level of miR-21 expression is significantly associated with the prognosis of tumour patients, suggesting that it might serve as a prognostic marker for human malignancy [21]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
