BACKGROUND: Although some recent reports have shown that the expression level of miR-193a varied in different cancers, its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unidentified. The aim of the current study was to validate the relationship between miR-193a-3p and clinicopathological characteristics in HCC patients.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Expression of miR-193a-3p in 95 HCC cases and their corresponding peritumoral tissues (PT) was examined by using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). miR-193a-3p expression and its correlation with a variety of clinicopathological features and patient recurrence were analyzed.

RESULTS: The relative level of miR-193a-3p was 3.2028±1.1951 in PT, significantly higher than its expression in HCC tissues (1.5941±0.7079, P<0.001). The area under the curve of underexpression of miR-193a-3p was 0.906 to distinguish HCC from normal liver (95% CI: 0.864–0.948, P<0.001). Expression of miR-193a-3p was negatively correlated to metastasis (r=–0.371, P=0.000), TNM (r=–0.321, P=0.002), respectively. Additionally, the recurrence time was 50.271±2.631 months for the low miR-193a-3p level group and 60.132±3.626 months for the high miR-193a-3p level group. However, no significant difference between them was found (chi-square=0.354, P=0.552).

CONCLUSIONS: MiR-193a-3p may be a tumor-suppressive miRNA which is down-regulated in HCC tissues. It could be regarded as a predictor for the deterioration of HCC patients.

Keywords: Biomarkers, Tumor - genetics, Aged, 80 and over, Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - secondary, Liver Neoplasms - pathology, MicroRNAs - genetics, Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - pathology, Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction