Role of miR50103p in predicting the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objectives: Numerous miRNAs have been found to be abnormally expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, clinical significance of miR-5010-3p in HCC is not elucidated. This study aims to explore the prognostic value and role of miR-5010-3p in HCC.

Methods: The differential gene expression analysis of miR-5010-3p in HCC was performed based on the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the predictive value of miR-5010-3p expression level for HCC prognosis. The Kaplan-Meier, Cox univariate, and Cox multivariate analysis were used to predict its role in the prognosis of HCC. The downstream target genes were predicted. Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis were performed to predict the potential functional pathways they may participate in. Finally, methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay and 5-ethyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EDU) incorporation experiment were carried out to prove its effect on proliferation.

Results: The expression of miR-5010-3p was associated with histological grade (=0.019), vascular invasion degree (=0.049), TP53 level (=0.004), and alpha fetoprotein (AFP) level (=0.012). A moderate ability to distinguish between tumor and paracancerous tissues of miR-5010-3p in HCC was perceived by ROC curve (AUC: 0.712, 95% 0.649 to 0.776). High expression of miR-5010-3p was associated with shorter overall survival (OS) (=0.003). The results of functional enrichment analysis showed that miR-5010-3p was related to the tumorigenesis process. In vitro experiments verified that miR-5010-3p promoted the proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Conclusions: MiR-5010-3p promotes the proliferation of liver cancer cells, and its high expression is associated with poor prognosis, which may be a potential prognostic marker.