Expression Of MiR-338-3p In Gastric Carcinoma And Its Significance

Objective:To investigate the microRNA-338-3p (miR-338-3p) differential expression patterns in carcinoma and adjacent non-tumorous tissues and their relationship with clinicopathological features. Methods:Fifty-one pairs of fresh gastric cancer tissues and corresponding normal gastric epithelium were collected at our department from April 2012 to May 2013. Six of them(three cases of the han nationality, three cases of Uighur) were randomly selected and miRNA microarray was applied to study the miRNA expression profiles of gastric cancer. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to validate the reliability of microarray and detect miR-338-3p expression in the above clinical samples. The relationship between miR-338-3p expression and clinicopathological factors of gastric carcinoma was analyzed. Results:34 patients were with low expression level of miR-338-3p in the 51 patients and 17 patients were with high expression level of miR-338-3p(0.39±0.14 vs 3.08±1.79,P<0.05).6 Uygur patients were with low expression level of miR-338-3p and 3 Uygur patients were with high expression level of miR-338-3p(0.36±0.16 vs 1.71±0.66,P<0.05). But no significant difference was found between Han ethnicities and Uygur(P>0.05). The expression level was positively correlated to local invasion(P=0.047), lymph node metastasis (P=0.001) and advanced TNM stage(P=0.017), but not associated significantly with age, gender, ethnicities and differentiation(P>0.05). Conclusion:The expression level of miR-338-3p might be low in patients with gastric carcinoma, which could be correlated with the generation and development of diseases, and there was no significant difference found between the Han and Uighurs. miR-338-3p can be a new direction in diagnosis and predicting the state of gastric carcinoma.