Serum microRNA-145 as a novel biomarker in human ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer is one of the most threatening diseases among women in the world. Current detection methods are expensive and lack accuracy. Thus, a fast, non-invasive biomarker for detecting ovarian cancer is urgently needed. Compelling evidences have been demonstrated that microRNAs, a large family of single-stranded and non-protein-coding RNA molecules, can serve as useful biomarkers in cancer detection. In this study, the relative expressions of microRNA-145 (miR-145) in the serum of patients with ovarian cancer and healthy controls were investigated in an independent study. Subsequently, the diagnosis and prognosis value of miR-145 as a biomarker for ovarian cancer were examined. Furthermore, we performed a meta-analysis to summarize all the results from published studies and this study. Relative expressions of miR-145 were investigated in three independent groups (malignant ovarian cancer, benign ovarian tumor, and healthy controls), comprising a total of 270 participants. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and overall survival (OS) curves were conducted to compare miR-145 level and clinical characteristics among the three groups. The results showed that relative expressions of the serum miR-145 were significantly down-regulated in patients with malignant ovarian cancer and benign ovarian cancer, compared to healthy controls (P < 0.01). Serum miR-145 levels could discriminate patients with malignant ovarian cancer from healthy controls, with a power area under the curve (AUC) of 0.82 (95 % confidence interval (CI) = 0.77-0.88). Furthermore, patients with low serum levels of miR-145 had a significantly shorter median overall survival rate (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.81, 95 % CI = 1.03-3.17, P = 0.039). The meta-analysis yields good diagnostic performances of miR-145 in various cancers, with an AUC of 0.82 (95 % CI, 0.78-0.85). In conclusion, the present study suggested that miR-145 can potentially serve as an outstanding biomarker for ovarian and other human cancers detection.