RETRACTED ARTICLE: Identification of microRNAs (miR-203/miR-7) as potential markers for the early detection of lymph node metastases in patients with cervical cancer.

Abstract

Current evidences indicated that microRNAs (miRNAs) may be used as an extensive strategy for discovering new potential biomarkers. Previous studies reported a number of dysregulated miRNAs in cervical carcinomas. In the current study, the expressions of miR-203 and miR-7 were evaluated in the cervical cancer tissues and corresponding non-cancer tis- sues using qRT-PCR assay. The expression level of miR-203 was decreased in cervical cancer tissues than corresponding normal tissues (p<0.05). Moreover, miR-7 was down- regulated in cervical cancer tissues than corresponding normal tissues (p<0.05). Our findings showed that low expression lev- el of miR-203 was significantly related to lymph node metas- tasis (P=0.005). Moreover, low expression level of miR-7 was significantly correlated with advanced International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage (P=0.008), lymph node metastasis (P=0.001), and advanced histological grade (P=0.003). Kaplan-Meier analysis and log-rank test indicated that cervical cancer patients with low expression of miR-203 and miR-7 have shorter overall survival than patients with high expression of miRNAs (log-rank test P<0.001). Multivariate Cox proportional hazards model analysis has shown that lymph node metastasis (P =0.024) and low expression of miR-203 (P=0.029) were independent prognostic factors for overall sur- vival of patients suffering from cervical cancer. In terms of miR-7, multivariate Cox proportional hazards model analysis indicated that FIGO stage (P=0.005), lymph node metastasis (P=0.002), and low expression of miR-7 (P=0.02) were inde- pendent prognostic factors for overall survival of patients suf- fering from cervical cancer. In conclusion, our study suggested that expression level of miR-203 and miR-7 is involved in the progression of cervical cancer. Therefore, it may be used as potential markers for non-invasion diagnosis/prognosis in cer- vical cancer patients.