miR-20b overexpression is predictive of poor prognosis in gastric cancer

miR-20b has been shown to be aberrantly expressed in several tumor types. However, the clinical significance of miR-20b in the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer (GC) is poorly understood, and the exact role of miR-20b in GC remains unclear.

The expression of miR-20b was detected in 102 patients with GC by a SYBR Green assay and was compared with the expression in matched adjacent normal tissue specimens. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association of the expression of miR-20b with the clinicopathological characteristics and the overall survival of patients with GC as analyzed by Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression models.

Our results showed that miR-20b expression was upregulated in GC tissue compared with normal mucosa (P=0.00). Furthermore, miR-20b expression was positively correlated with advanced lymph node metastasis (P=0.041), tumor node metastasis stage (P=0.000), and deeper and distant metastasis (P=0.031). The overall survival rate of patients with GC was significantly lower in those whose tumors expressed high levels of miR-20b mRNA compared with those whose tumors expressed low levels of miR-20b mRNA (P=0.019).

miR-20b may serve as a potential molecular marker for the prognosis of GC.