Diagnostic and prognostic potential of serum miR-132/212 cluster in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Background: It has been reported that both of the miR-132/212 (micro-RNA) cluster members, miR-132 and miR-212, are downregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma. Nevertheless, the expression pattern and clinical utility of serum miR-132/212 in hepatocellular carcinoma are still unknown. Methods: In this study, serum concentrations of miR-132 and miR-212 were measured in 80 hepatocellular carcinoma patients, 51 controls with chronic liver diseases and 42 healthy volunteers by using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: In hepatocellular carcinoma patients, serum concentrations of miR-132 and miR-212 were significantly reduced and strongly correlated (r = 0.603, p < 0.001). Receiver operator characteristic analyses showed that serum miR- 132 and miR-212 might have a potential role in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma. Moreover, the combination of serum miR-132, miR-212 and alpha-fetoprotein improved the diagnostic efficiency for hepatocellular carcinoma, especially in sensitivity and negative predictive value. Serum miR-132 was associated with tumour differentiation degree (p = 0.021) and tumour-node-metastasis stage (p = 0.002); serum miR-212 correlated with tumour size (p = 0.023) and tumour-node-metastasis stage (p = 0.007). Kaplan-Meier analyses indicated poorer overall survival in hepatocellular carcinoma patients with lower serum concentrations of miR-132 (p < 0.001) and miR-212 (p = 0.005). Conclusions: Our results suggest that both components of the miR- 132/212 cluster have potential roles as non-invasive serum biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma.