Chen Yong, Chen Qingquan, Liu Qicai, Gao Feng
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Mindong Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fu'an, China.
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Medical Technology and Engineering College, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China.
Tumour Biol. 2016 Jun;37(6):8359-65. doi: 10.1007/s13277-015-4672-8. Epub 2016 Jan 5.
Ovarian cancer is the most common cause of gynecological malignancy-related mortality. Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) is a useful biomarker for ovarian cancer when either used alone or in combination with carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125). What is more, aberrant expression of microRNA-21 (miR-21) has been shown to be involved in oncogenesis, but the relationship between miR-21 and HE4 in ovarian cancer is not clear. Tumor and adjacent tumor tissues from 43 patients with ovarian cancer were examined. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of HE4 in the carcinoma and adjacent tissues. The associations between HE4 and tumor biological characters were discussed. TaqMan(®) MicroRNA (miRNA) assays were employed to detect the expression of miR-21 in the ovarian carcinoma. In ovarian cancer, the expression of HE4 messenger RNA (mRNA) in cancer tissues was higher than adjacent tumor tissues (P < 0.0001), which was 1.299-fold of adjacent tumor tissues. And, the expression of miR-21 was also up-regulated which was significantly different in the ovarian cancer (the positive rate was 76.74 %). There was a significantly positive correlation between miR-21 and HE4 expression (r = 0.283 and P = 0.066 for HE4 mRNA, r = 0.663 and P < 0.0001 for serum HE4). There was also a significant correlation between miR-21 and tumor grade (r = 0.608, P < 0.0001). Significantly, patients with recent recurrence (less than 6 months, n = 17) have a higher miR-21 expression than those with no recent recurrence. Therefore, HE4 and miR-21 may play an important role in the development and progression of ovarian cancer and they may serve as prognostic indicators in ovarian cancer.
卵巢癌是妇科恶性肿瘤相关死亡的最常见原因。人附睾蛋白4（HE4）无论是单独使用还是与糖类抗原125（CA125）联合使用，都是卵巢癌的一种有用生物标志物。此外，微小RNA-21（miR-21）的异常表达已被证明与肿瘤发生有关，但miR-21与卵巢癌中HE4的关系尚不清楚。对43例卵巢癌患者的肿瘤组织及癌旁组织进行了检测。采用实时聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）检测癌组织及癌旁组织中HE4的表达情况，并探讨HE4与肿瘤生物学特性之间的关系。采用TaqMan®微小RNA（miRNA）检测法检测卵巢癌组织中miR-21的表达。在卵巢癌中，癌组织中HE4信使核糖核酸（mRNA）的表达高于癌旁组织（P < 0.0001），是癌旁组织的1.299倍。而且，miR-21的表达也上调，在卵巢癌中差异有统计学意义（阳性率为76.74%）。miR-21与HE4表达之间存在显著正相关（HE4 mRNA的r = 0.283，P = 0.066；血清HE4的r = 0.663，P < 0.0001）。miR-21与肿瘤分级之间也存在显著相关性（r = 0.608，P < 0.0001）。值得注意的是，近期复发（少于6个月，n = 17）的患者miR-21表达高于无近期复发的患者。因此，HE4和miR-21可能在卵巢癌的发生发展中起重要作用，它们可能作为卵巢癌的预后指标。
