Expressions of MicroRNA-21 and PTEN in Ovarian Epithelial Carcinomas and Their Clinical Significance

Objective:To investigate the expression of microRNA-21 (miR-21) and PTEN in ovarian epithelial carcinoma and to investigate their relationship with the clinical pathologic features.Methods:The expression of miR-21 was detected by Stem-loop RT-PCR in 48 cases of ovarian epithelial carcinomas, 24 cases of benign ovarian epithelial cysts and 15 cases of normal ovarian tissues.S-P immunohistochemical method was used to detect the expression of PTEN.Results:The expression of miR-21 (2-CT) was 4.849±1.813 in the ovarian epithelial carcinomas, which is significantly higherthan that in the benign ovarian tumors and normal ovari-an tissues(P0.01).The positive rate of PTEN protein (41.66%) in ovarian carcinomas was lower than that in the normal ovarian tissues and benign ovarian tumors.The expressions of miR-21 and PTEN were not correlated with histological type, but closely correlated with levels of histological differentiation, clinical pathology stage and lymphatic metastasis.In epithelial ovarian carcinomas, there was negative correlation between the expression of miR-21 and the positive rate of PTEN (P0.01).Conclusion:MiR-21 might play a role as an oncogene that down-regulate the expression of PTEN in the genesis and development of ovarian epithelial carcinoma, and possibly correlated with the progression and prognosis of ovarian epithelial carcinoma.