Case Control Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Oct 6, 2019; 7(19): 2930-2941
Published online Oct 6, 2019. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v7.i19.2930
Expression and predictive value of miR-489 and miR-21 in melanoma metastasis
Hao Mo, Jian Guan, Zhen-Chao Yuan, Xiang Lin, Zhen-Jie Wu, Bin Liu, Ju-Liang He
Hao Mo, Jian Guan, Zhen-Chao Yuan, Xiang Lin, Zhen-Jie Wu, Bin Liu, Ju-Liang He, Department of Bone and Soft Tissue Surgery, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, Nanning 530021, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China
Author contributions: Mo H designed the research; Guan J and Yuan ZC performed the research; Lin X and Wu ZJ contributed new reagents and analytic tools; Liu B analyzed the data; He JL wrote the paper.
Institutional review board statement: The study was authorized by the Ethics Committee of Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no competing interest.
Data sharing statement: All the data in the current research are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ju-Liang He, MD, Doctor, Department of Bone and Soft Tissue Surgery, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, No. 71, Hedi Road, Nanning 530021, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. hejuliang0@qq.com
Telephone: +86-18890207253 Fax: +86-771-4356262
Received: July 12, 2019
Peer-review started: July 17, 2019
First decision: August 2, 2019
Revised: August 9, 2019
Accepted: August 27, 2019
Article in press: August 27, 2019
Published online: October 6, 2019
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Malignant melanoma is a malignant neoplasm common in the skin or other organs. Patients with malignant melanoma often have metastasis due to the lesion, and the mortality increases significantly with the metastasis of the lesion, which has a serious impact on society and families. Therefore, it is of great significance to analyze the pathogenesis of human melanoma and to search for biological markers related to the diagnosis and treatment of melanoma.

Research motivation

At present, the diagnosis and clinical evaluation of melanoma are influenced by subjective factors to a certain extent. It takes a long time to monitor the metastasis of melanoma. Therefore, this study aimed to provide a new theoretical basis for the diagnosis and treatment of melanoma, and to study the expression characteristics of miR-489 and miR-21 in serum of patients with melanoma and their clinical significance.

Research objectives

To study the value of miR-489 and miR-21 in peripheral blood in the diagnosis and treatment of melanoma, and explore the application of serological analysis in the diagnosis and treatment of melanoma, so as to provide reference for clinical diagnosis and treatment of this malignancy.

Research methods

Sixty patients with malignant melanoma treated at our hospital from June 2017 to December 2018 were selected as a study group, and 40 healthy people in the same period were selected as a control group. The levels of miR-489 and miR-21 in serum were detected by qRT-PCR. The ROC curves were drawn to evaluate their predictive value and diagnostic efficiency. Spearman test was used for correlation analysis. The risk factors for melanoma metastasis were analyzed by Logistic single- and multiple-factor analyses. The value of miR-489 and miR-21 in the diagnosis and treatment of melanoma was verified.

Research results

The expression of miR-489 in the research group was significantly lower than that in the control group, while the expression of miR-21 in the research group was significantly higher than that in the control group. The expression of miR-489 and miR-21 was related to TNM stage and metastasis of melanoma. The relative expression of serum miR-489 decreased with the increase of TNM stage, while the relative expression of serum miR-21 increased. The relative expression of serum miR-489 was negatively correlated with TNM stage, and the relative expression of serum miR-21 was positively correlated with TNM stage. The single diagnosis with mir-489 or miR-21 had good sensitivity, specificity, and AUC in the diagnosis of melanoma patients. Logistic single-factor analysis showed that TNM stage, miR-489, and miR-21 were independent risk factors for melanoma metastasis. MiR-489 and miR-21 had certain predictive value in the diagnosis and prognosis of melanoma metastasis.

Research conclusions

MiR-489 and miR-21 have potential value in the diagnosis and treatment of melanoma, and they are expected to become potential indicators for the diagnosis and evaluation of melanoma in the future.

Research perspectives

Future studies need to further confirm the timing of blood collection for detection of miR-489 and miR-21 so that they can be better used in clinical practice. What’s more, whether mir-489 and miR-21 can be targets for melanoma metastasis needs further analysis.