Ognostic marker for the survival of patients. To date, several studies have revealed the prognostic significance of miR-27a overexpression in various carcinomas, such as gastric cancer [31], acute lymphoblastic leukemia [17] and osteosarcoma [32]. To the best of our knowledge, our research may be the first report to evaluate the prognostic value of miR-27a in breast cancer. Several tumor suppressor genes have been identified as targets of miR-27a regulation, including Docosahexaenoyl ethanolamide ZBTB10 [24,33], FOXO1 [34] and prohibitin [10]. By downregulating ZBTB10, miR-27a could increase the expression of the specificity protein (Sp) transcriptionfactors Sp1, Sp3 and Sp4 and several Sp-regulated genes/proteins, including vascular endothelial growth factor, survivin, cyclin D1 and fibroblast growth factor receptor-3. All of these genes encode tumor suppressors that are involved in breast cancer migration and invasion. Correspondingly, miR-27a also plays a role in Dimethylenastron price invasion and metastasis [33,35,36]. Our results showed that expression of miR-27a was lower and the expression of ZBTB10 was higher in the non-metastatic group compared to the metastatic group. Like miR-27a, the difference in the expression of ZBTB10 between metastatic and non-metastatic breast cancers was statistically significant. In addition, Spearman order correlation analysis showed that ZBTB10 expression in breast cancer was inversely correlated with the miR-27a level. ZBTB10 levels were closely associated with tumor size, lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis of the patients. This may contribute to the ZBTB10 regulation of Sp, which is related to tumor growth and metastasis. However, we did not find that ZBTB10 had prognostic importance in the multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis. These results suggest that miR-27a promotes tumor growth and metastasis by targeting not only ZBTB10 but also other tumor suppressor genes and that ZBTB10 alone does not demonstrate any prognostic value. In summary, the results of our study indicate that the expression of miR-27a is strongly correlated with the clinical stages and overall survival times of patients with breast cancer, providing evidence that up-regulation of miR-27a might play an important role in the progression of the disease. The study results are consistent with the literature and support the notion that miR-27a is an oncogenic microRNA that induces effects by regulating ZBTB10.AcknowledgmentsWe thank Dr. Zefang Ren for his assistance on the statistical analysis and Xiuying Cui for technical assistance and helpful comments. We appreciate the critical review from Dr. Erwei Song and suggestions from our reviewers.Author ContributionsConceived and designed the experiments: FY FS. Performed the experiments: WT JZ. Analyzed the data: WT SS. Contributed reagents/ materials/analysis tools: JZ WW. Wrote the paper: FY WT QL.MiR-27a as a Predictor of Invasive Breast Cancer
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most prevalent cancer, and ranks third as a cause of cancer death worldwide [1]. Incidence has been increasing in economically developed regions, including Japan, Western Europe, and the United States in recent decades [2,3]. Although new strategies have been applied for HCC treatment, efficacies are still beyond satisfactory [4]. In view of that the poor prognosis of HCC, with a median survival time of 4 months [1], and that the accuracy and reproducibility of markers current used in clinic to predict survival after surg.Ognostic marker for the survival of patients. To date, several studies have revealed the prognostic significance of miR-27a overexpression in various carcinomas, such as gastric cancer [31], acute lymphoblastic leukemia [17] and osteosarcoma [32]. To the best of our knowledge, our research may be the first report to evaluate the prognostic value of miR-27a in breast cancer. Several tumor suppressor genes have been identified as targets of miR-27a regulation, including ZBTB10 [24,33], FOXO1 [34] and prohibitin [10]. By downregulating ZBTB10, miR-27a could increase the expression of the specificity protein (Sp) transcriptionfactors Sp1, Sp3 and Sp4 and several Sp-regulated genes/proteins, including vascular endothelial growth factor, survivin, cyclin D1 and fibroblast growth factor receptor-3. All of these genes encode tumor suppressors that are involved in breast cancer migration and invasion. Correspondingly, miR-27a also plays a role in invasion and metastasis [33,35,36]. Our results showed that expression of miR-27a was lower and the expression of ZBTB10 was higher in the non-metastatic group compared to the metastatic group. Like miR-27a, the difference in the expression of ZBTB10 between metastatic and non-metastatic breast cancers was statistically significant. In addition, Spearman order correlation analysis showed that ZBTB10 expression in breast cancer was inversely correlated with the miR-27a level. ZBTB10 levels were closely associated with tumor size, lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis of the patients. This may contribute to the ZBTB10 regulation of Sp, which is related to tumor growth and metastasis. However, we did not find that ZBTB10 had prognostic importance in the multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis. These results suggest that miR-27a promotes tumor growth and metastasis by targeting not only ZBTB10 but also other tumor suppressor genes and that ZBTB10 alone does not demonstrate any prognostic value. In summary, the results of our study indicate that the expression of miR-27a is strongly correlated with the clinical stages and overall survival times of patients with breast cancer, providing evidence that up-regulation of miR-27a might play an important role in the progression of the disease. The study results are consistent with the literature and support the notion that miR-27a is an oncogenic microRNA that induces effects by regulating ZBTB10.AcknowledgmentsWe thank Dr. Zefang Ren for his assistance on the statistical analysis and Xiuying Cui for technical assistance and helpful comments. We appreciate the critical review from Dr. Erwei Song and suggestions from our reviewers.Author ContributionsConceived and designed the experiments: FY FS. Performed the experiments: WT JZ. Analyzed the data: WT SS. Contributed reagents/ materials/analysis tools: JZ WW. Wrote the paper: FY WT QL.MiR-27a as a Predictor of Invasive Breast Cancer
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most prevalent cancer, and ranks third as a cause of cancer death worldwide [1]. Incidence has been increasing in economically developed regions, including Japan, Western Europe, and the United States in recent decades [2,3]. Although new strategies have been applied for HCC treatment, efficacies are still beyond satisfactory [4]. In view of that the poor prognosis of HCC, with a median survival time of 4 months [1], and that the accuracy and reproducibility of markers current used in clinic to predict survival after surg.