microRNA-217 was downregulated in ovarian cancer and was associated with poor prognosis

Background: MicroRNA-217 (miR-217) has been found to be down-regulated in ovarian cancer tissues. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the clinical significance of miR-217 in ovarian cancer. Methods: We performed quantitative RT-PCR analysis to detect the expression level of miR-217 in ovarian cancer tissues and normal ovarian tissues. The relationship between the expression level of miR-217 and clinic-pathological factors was analyzed using the Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test, as appropriate. Survival curves were constructed with the Kaplan-Meier method and compared by log-rank tests. A Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used for univariate and multivariate analyses of prognostic values. Results: miR-217 was significantly decreased in ovarian cancer tissues when compared with that in the paired normal ovarian tissues (P<0.001). Low miR-217 expression was significantly associated with tumor differentiation (P=0.01), lymph nodes metastasis (P=0.002), and FIGO stage (P<0.001). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the ovarian cancer patients who had a lower expression level of miR-217 suffered poorer 5 year overall survival rates (P=0.006). Multivariate regression analysis indicated that differentiation (P=0.019), lymph nodes metastasis (P=0.009), FIGO stage (P=0.011) and miR-217 expression level (P=0.038) were independent prognostic factors for patients with ovarian cancer. Conclusions: Down-regulation of miR-217 was significantly associated with poor prognosis in patients with ovarian cancer.