Abstract:

Objective To investigate the expression of miR-154 in tissues and sera from patients with astrocytomas and its clinical significance. Methods In this study，76 cases of cerebral astrocytoma and 36 cases of adjacent tissues from January 2011 to December 2015 were collected. Using real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR（QPCR），the expression of miR-154 in the above tissues was detected and the distribution of miR-154 in astrocytoma and adjacent tissues was compared. Meanwhile，miR-154 expression of serum samples were also detected in 49 cases of astrocytoma and 52 healthy subjects. The changes of serum level of miR-154 before and after surgery were measured in 29 patients. The relationship of miR-154 expression and common clinical pathological parameters of astrocytoma（age，gender，tumor grade and KPS score）was investigated. According to the follow-up data，the prognosis of different levels of miR-154 was compared. Results The miR-154 level in 76 cases of astrocytoma tissues was 0.254±0.170，lower than 1.087±0.073 in adjacent tissues，and the difference was statistically significan（P＜0.05）. The serum miR-154 level of 49 patients was 0.256±0.180，less than 1.065±0.350 of healthy serum samples，and the difference was statistically significant（P＜0.05）. The serum level of miR-154 was positively correlated with miR-154 in tissue（r=0.552，P=0.000）. The preoperative serum level of miR-154 was 0.243±0.173 in 29 patients，lower than 0.339±0.159 of postoperative level（P＜0.05）. In astrocytoma tissues，the expression of miR-154 had no relationship with gender，age and KPS score，but was related with tumor grade. The median overall survival（OS）of 76 patients was 15.7 months. The median OS of miR-154 high expression group was 16.6 months，higher than 11.3 months of low expression group，and the difference was statistically significant（P＜0.05）. Conclusion The decreased expression of miR-154 is observed in astrocytoma，and is related with tumor grade. Patients with high levels of miR-154 have better prognosis. miR-154 may be related to the occurrence and development of astrocytoma，providing a certain value in the evaluation of diagnosis and prognosis.