Expression of miR-34a and its clinical significance in human colorectal carcinoma

Purpose To investigate the expression of miR-34a in human colorectal carcinoma and its relationship with clinicopathological features.Methods The mRNA expression of miR-34a was determined by real-time quantitative PCR in 43 colorectal carcinoma tissues and para-cancerous normal tissues.Results Real-time quantitative PCR analysis revealed that miR-34a expression in colorectal carcinoma tissues was lower than those in the paraneoplastic colorectal tissues(P0.05).There were no significant correlations between the expression of miR-34a and gender,age,tumor location,tumor size and lymph node metastases(P0.05),but it related to depth of invasion and TNM stage(P0.05).Conclusions Downregulation of miR-34a expression in the colorectal carcinoma suggests that miR-34a may be involved in the carcinogenesis and development of colorectal carcinoma.miR-34a may be a novel useful tumor marker and a prognostic factor for colorectal carcinoma.