Eun Ji Nam¹, Heejei Yoon², Sang Wun Kim¹, Hoguen Kim², Young Tae Kim¹, Jae Hoon Kim¹, Jae Wook Kim³ and Sunghoon Kim¹

Authors' Affiliations:¹Women's Cancer Clinic, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology; ²Department of Pathology, BK21 Project for Medical Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine; and ³Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kwandong University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Requests for reprints:
Sunghoon Kim, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, C.P.O. Box 8044, Seoul, Korea 120-752. Phone: 82-2-2228-2230; Fax: 82-2-313-8357;

Abstract

Purpose: Although microRNAs have recently been recognized as riboregulators of gene expression, little is known about microRNA expression profiles in serous ovarian carcinoma. We assessed the expression of microRNA and the association between microRNA expression and the prognosis of serous ovarian carcinoma.

Experimental Design: Twenty patients diagnosed with serous ovarian carcinoma and eight patients treated for benign uterine disease between December 2000 and September 2003 were enrolled in this study. The microRNA expression profiles were examined using DNA microarray and Northern blot analyses.

Results: Several microRNAs were differentially expressed in serous ovarian carcinoma compared with normal ovarian tissues, including miR-21, miR-125a, miR-125b, miR-100, miR-145, miR-16, and miR-99a, which were each differentially expressed in >16 patients. In addition, the expression levels of some microRNAs were correlated with the survival in patients with serous ovarian carcinoma. Higher expression of miR-200, miR-141, miR-18a, miR-93, and miR-429, and lower expression of let-7b, and miR-199a were significantly correlated with a poor prognosis (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: Our results indicate that dysregulation of microRNAs is involved in ovarian carcinogenesis and associated with the prognosis of serous ovarian carcinoma

microRNA, ovarian cancer, prognosis

Footnotes
4 http://rana.lbl.gov

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Note: Supplementary data for this article are available at Clinical Cancer Research Online (http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/).

Accepted December 20, 2007.
Received July 13, 2007.
Revision received November 5, 2007.