Prognostic value of microRNA-20b expression level in patients with prostate cancer

Rongkui Zhang¹, Fuwei Li², Yuchong Wang³, Ming Yao⁴ and Changliang Chi<sup>5

1</sup>Department of Radiology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, ²Operating Room, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, ³Department of Magnetic Resonance, Jilin Province FAW General Hospital, ⁴Department of Radiology, Jilin Cancer Hospital and ⁵Department of Urology Surgery, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, P.R. China

Offprint requests to: Changliang Chi, 71 Xinmin Street, Changchun 130021, Jilin, China. e-mail: wangweifengdl@163.com

Summary. Background. miR-20b is a member of the miR-106a-363 gene cluster located in the mammalian X chromosome, the larger miR-17 family, and the miR-17-92 and miR-106b-25 gene clusters. Previous studies have indicated that miR-20b may function as oncogene or tumor suppressor in different types of cancers. The present study analyzed the association between miR-20b and clinicopathological characteristics of patients with prostate cancer. Methods. A total of 127 pairs of prostate cancer tissue samples and adjacent prostate tissue samples were collected from April 2013 to March 2018. The associations between miR-20b expression levels and clinicopathological factors were assessed using the Χ²-test. Survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and the differences in survival according to miR-20b expression were compared using the log-rank test. Prognostic values of miR-20b expression and clinical outcomes were evaluated by Cox regression analysis. Results. The relative expression of miR-20b in prostate cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in adjacent noncancerous prostate tissues (P<0.001). miR-20b expression was observed to be significantly associated with Gleason score (P<0.001), lymph node metastasis (P<0.001), and TNM stage (P=0.002). The log-rank test indicated that patients with increased miR-20b expression experienced poor overall survival (P=0.037). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that miR-20b expression level (HR=2.181, 95% CI: 1.772-9.021, P=0.016) was an independent factor in predicting the overall survival of prostate cancer patients. Conclusion. The present study demonstrated that tissue miR-20b expression level could be a promising biomarker of prognosis in prostate cancer. Histol Histopathol 35, 827-831 (2020)

Key words: MicroRNA-20b, Multivariate Cox regression analysis, Expression, Prognosis, Prostate cancer

DOI: 10.14670/HH-18-216