The expression and clinical significance of serum miR-200a in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective To investigate the expression level of miR-200a in serum of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and its clinical significance. Methods Real time PCR was used to detect the expression of miR-200a in the serum of 36 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and 21 normal controls, to analysis the relationship between the expression of serum miR-200a and clinical pathological parameters in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. The AFP expression was got from clinical data. Results The expression level of miR-200a was 4.63 ±1.31 in 36 hepatocellular carcinoma patients and 6.05±0.51 in 21 normal control.Serum miR-200a expression level in 36 patients was significantly lower than that in normal control(P0.05). Serum miR-200a expression was significantly associated with tumor differentiation, TNM and AFP(P0.05). There were no correlation between serum miR-200a expression level and sex, age, smoked cigarettes, consumed alcohol, HBV, cirrhosis(P0.05). Conclusion Our data confirms a role for serum miR-200a as a novel cancer biomarker in hepatocellular carcinoma.