Comprehensive Assessment of the Relationship Between MicroRNA-124 and the Prognostic Significance of Cancer.

BACKGROUND

Numerous studies have demonstrated the presence of microRNA-124 abnormalities involving gene expression, methylation, and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in multiple and diverse cancers, but the prognostic value of these abnormalities in cancer remains inconclusive.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study is to determine the prognostic value of miR-124 in cancer.

METHODS

We scrutinized the electronic databases and estimate the association between miR-124 expression, methylation and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and prognosis in cancers. The pooled hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for overall survival (OS), and disease-free survival/recurrence-free survival (RFS)/progression-free survival (PFS) were calculated to estimate the effects of miR-124 expression, methylation, and SNPs on cancer prognosis. The Quality in Prognosis Studies and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale were utilized to assess the quality of included studies.

RESULTS

A total of 20 studies involving 3,574 participants were analyzed in evidence synthesis. Our findings showed that the low expression of miR-124 was significantly associated with poor OS (HR = 2.37, 95% CI: 1.91-2.94,  = 0.00; HR = 3.10, 95% CI: 2.04-4.70,  = 0.00) and PFS/RFS (HR = 2.21, 95% CI: 1.50-3.26,  = 0.00; HR = 2.12, 95% CI: 1.20-3.74,  = 0.00). The hyper-methylation of miR-124 was associated with poor OS (HR = 2.09, 95% CI: 1.48-2.95,  = 0.00) and PFS (HR = 3.70, 95% CI: 1.72-7.97,  = 0.00) (Table 3). The patients carrying with Allele C of miR-124 rs5315649 had a worse OS (HR = 1.50, 95% CI: 1.09-2.07,  = 0.00) and PFS (HR = 1.67, 95% CI: 1.20-2.33,  = 0.00) than the carriers with Allele G.

CONCLUSION

The low expression and hyper-methylation of miR-124 was strongly associated with poor prognosis, and genetic variations of miR-124 rs531564 affected prognosis in cancer patients.