Diagnostic value of miR-153 and miR-203 in patients with cervical cancer and their correlation with human papillomavirus infection.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To explore the diagnostic value of miR-153 and miR-203 in patients with cervical cancer (CC). METHODS: A total of 136 CC and suspected CC patients admitted to our hospital were enrolled in this prospective study. Among them, 80 cases had CC, 56 cases with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, and 40 cases with cervicitis. The normal cervical tissues of the above 176 patients were taken as a control and the expression levels of miR-153, miR-203 and human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA in CC tissues were detected. RESULTS: The relative expressions of miR-153 and miR-203 in the CC group were significantly lower than those in the cervicitis and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia groups (all P<0.01). The area under the ROC curve of miR-153 for the diagnosis of CC was 0.883 (95% CI 0.828-0.938, P<0.001). When the cut-off value of miR-153 expression level in the diagnosis of CC was 0.27, its Youden index, specificity, and sensitivity were 0.748, 0.863, and 0.885, respectively. The area under the ROC curve of miR-203 for the diagnosis of CC was 0.752 (95% CI 0.680-0.825, P<0.001). When the cut-off value of miR-203 expression level in the diagnosis of CC was 0.51, its Youden index, specificity, and sensitivity were 0.478, 0.615, and 0.863, respectively. Compared with the cervical intraepithelial neoplasia group, HPV infection rate in the CC group was significantly higher (P<0.001). The relative expression levels of miR-153 and miR-203 in HPV-positive patients were significantly lower than those in HPV-negative patients (P<0.001). Significantly lower levels of miR-153 and miR-203 were found in patients with myometrial infiltration, FIGO III-IV stage, and lymphatic metastasis (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The expressions of miR-152 and miR-203 are down-regulated in patients with CC, which has diagnostic value for CC. The expressions of miR-153 and miR-203 are correlated with HPV infection and aggressiveness of tumor.