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MicroRNA expression profiles in muscle-invasive bladder cancer: identification of a four-microRNA signature associated with patient survival

  • Research Article
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Tumor Biology

Abstract

Bladder cancer ranks the second most common genitourinary tract cancer, and muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) accounts for approximately 25 % of all bladder cancer cases with high mortality. In the current study, with a total of 202 treatment-naïve primary MIBC patients identified from The Cancer Genome Atlas dataset, we comprehensively analyzed the genome-wide microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles in MIBC, with the aim to investigate the relationship of miRNA expression with the progression and prognosis of MIBC, and generate a miRNA signature of prognostic capabilities. In the progression-related miRNA profiles, a total of 47, 16, 3, and 84 miRNAs were selected for pathologic T, N, M, and histologic grade, respectively. Of the eight most important progression-related miRNAs, four (let-7c, mir-125b-1, mir-193a, and mir-99a) were significantly associated with survival of patients with MIBC. Finally, a four-miRNA signature was generated and proven as a promising prognostic parameter. In summary, this study identified the specific miRNAs associated with the progression and aggressiveness of MIBC and a four-miRNA signature as a promising prognostic parameter of MIBC.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81070597 and 81370853) to RPJ, Nanjing Medical Science and Technique Development Foundation (QRX11251) to ZX, and Research and Innovation Program for Graduates of Jiangsu Province (CXZZ13_0583) to YZG. We would like to thank The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project for generating, curating, and providing high-quality biological and clinical data about muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Urology, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, 68 Changle Road, Nanjing, 210006, China

      Zheng Xu, Yu-Zheng Ge, Jia-Geng Zhu, Lu-Wei Xu, Quan-Liang Dou & Rui-Peng Jia

    2. Department of Gastroenterology, The Affiliated Jiangning Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, 168 Gushan Road, Nanjing, 211100, China

      Yan-Qiu Yu

    3. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Modern Toxicology, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, 140 Hanzhong Road, Nanjing, 210029, China

      Meng Zhu & Li-Guo Geng

    4. Department of Pathology, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, 68 Changle Road, Nanjing, 210006, China

      You-Cai Zhao & Xiao-Bing Yang

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    1. Zheng Xu
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    Zheng Xu, Yan-Qiu Yu and Yu-Zheng Ge contributed equally to this work.

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    Table S1

    MicroRNAs associated with the histopathological parameters of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (DOC 147 kb)

    Table S2

    MicroRNAs associated with overall survival of muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients (DOC 35 kb)

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    Xu, Z., Yu, YQ., Ge, YZ. et al. MicroRNA expression profiles in muscle-invasive bladder cancer: identification of a four-microRNA signature associated with patient survival. Tumor Biol. 36, 8159–8166 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-015-3559-z

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