Abnormalities of miR-21 expression in human breast cancer is associated with distinctive pathologic features and shortened postoperative survival

AIM: To investigate the potential relevance of miR-21 expression level to clinicopathological characteristics and patient survival. METHODS: 113 BRCA cases with more then 5 years fallow-up data were selected. Total RNA from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues of 113 breast cancer (BRCA) and normal adjacent tissues (NATs) were isolated for miR-21 quantitative analysis by real-time RT-PCR. RESULTS: The miR-21 expression levels in BRCA were significantly higher than those in NATs (P<0.01) with average up-regulated level of 1.74 ± 0.48. Interestingly, high level expression of miR-21 was significantly correlated with advanced clinical stage (P<0.01), lymph node metastasis (P<0.01), and shorter survival of the patients ［hazard ratio (HR)=5.476, P<0.01］. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that miR-21 was one of independent prognostic impacts (HR=4.133, P<0.01) on BRCA. CONCLUSION: Over-expression of miR-21 is associated with poor prognosis of BRCA and may serve as an independent prognostic marker for BRCA.