Objective: Many studies informed that microRNAs (miRNAs) could function as diagnostic and prognostic indicators in several cancers. The prognostic value of miR-454 in hepatocellular carcinoma has not been investigated.
Patients and methods: A total of 265 patients with HCC were obtained in this retrospective study between June 2009 and July 2014. qPCR was conducted to evaluate the expressed amount of the miR-454. The Kaplan-Meier method was conducted to explore the survival status of HCC patients. The log-rank test was used to analyze differences in survival rates.
Results: The expression of miR-454 was significantly upregulated in HCC tissues compared with adjacent non-cancerous tissues (p < 0.001). High levels of miR-454 in HCC tissues were correlated with a low 5-year overall survival (OS) (p < 0.001). Moreover, patients with high miR-454 expression had decreased disease-free survival (DFS) (p < 0.001). Furthermore, multivariate analysis showed that up-regulation of miR-454 was an independent prognostic factor for both 5-year OS (p = 0.013) and 5-year DFS (p = 0.008).
Conclusions: We firstly prove that expression of miR-454 may be a novel and valuable prognostic factor in HCC.