miR-548 predicts clinical prognosis and functions as a tumor promoter in gastric cancer.

Numerous pieces of evidence have demonstrated the functional role of miR-548 in various cancers. The expression and function of miR-548 in gastric cancer were investigated in the present study. A total of 123 gastric cancer patients were included and provided paired gastric cancer tissues and matched normal tissues. RT-qPCR was used to detect the expression of miR-548. CCK8 assay was used to evaluate cell proliferation, and Transwell assay was applied to assess cell migration and invasion. The clinical significance of miR-548 was estimated by a series of statistical analyses. miR-548 was found to be upregulated in gastric cancer, which was associated with the lymph node metastasis and TNM stage of patients. Patients with relatively high miR-548 expression possessed bad survival. miR-548 was identified as a prognostic indicator of gastric cancer. miR-548 was also found to promote the proliferation, migration, and invasion of gastric cancer. Upregulated miR-548 was involved in the progression of gastric cancer and predicted the prognosis of patients. Inhibition of miR-548 might be a novel therapeutic strategy for gastric cancer.