High expression of miR-17-5p in tumor epithelium is a predictor for poor prognosis for prostate cancer patients

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 13864
• Main Authors: Stoen, Maria Jenvin, Andersen, S., Rakaee, M., Pedersen, M. I., Ingebriktsen, L. M., Bremnes, R. M., Donnem, T., Lombardi, A. P. G., Kilvaer, T. K., Busund, L. T., Richardsen, E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 05.07.2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Research; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/337/384/331; 692/4028/67/1857; 692/4028/67/589/466; 692/53/2422; Basale medisinske, odontologiske og veterinærmedisinske fag: 710; Basic medical, dental and veterinary science disciplines: 710; Cell proliferation; Epithelial cells; Epithelium; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hybridization; Medical disciplines: 700; Medisinske Fag: 700; Metastases; miRNA; multidisciplinary; Non-coding RNA; Prostate cancer; Prostatectomy; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Tumor cell lines; Tumors; VDP
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-93208-6

MicroRNAs (miRs) are small non-coding RNA molecules, which are involved in the development of various malignancies, including prostate cancer (PCa). miR-17-5p is considered the most prominent member of the miR-17-92 cluster, with an essential regulatory function of fundamental cellular processes. In many malignancies, up-regulation of miR-17-5p is associated with worse outcome. In PCa, miR-17-5p has been reported to increase cell proliferation and the risk of metastasis. In this study, prostatectomy specimens from 535 patients were collected. Tissue microarrays were constructed and in situ hybridization was performed, followed by scoring of miR-17-5p expression on different tumor compartments. High expression of miR-17-5p in tumor epithelium was associated with biochemical failure (BF, p  < 0.001) and clinical failure (CF, p  = 0.019). In multivariate analyses, high miR-17-5p expression in tumor epithelial cells was an independent negative prognostic factor for BF (HR 1.87, 95% CI 1.32–2.67, p  < 0.001). In vitro analyses confirmed association between overexpression of miR-17-5p and proliferation, migration and invasion in prostate cancer cell lines (PC3 and DU145). In conclusion, our study suggests that a high cancer cell expression of miR-17-5p was an independent negative prognostic factor in PCa.