Expression and predictive value of miR-489 and miR-21 in melanoma metastasis

Melanoma is a highly malignant skin tumour, and is one of the most rapidly growing malignant tumors in recent years. According to statistics, the morbidity of cancer increases with age, accounting for 1.6% of new cancer cases and 0.6% of deaths worldwide. Melanoma has a serious impact on society and families, thus it is of great significance to find biological markers related to the diagnosis and treatment of melanoma.

To explore the expression and predictive value of mir-489 and mir-21 in melanoma metastasis.

A total of 60 patients with malignant melanoma treated at our hospital from June 2017 to December 2018 were selected as a research group, while 40 healthy subjects were selected as a control group. qRT-PCR technique was used to detect miR-489 and miR-21 in serum of the two groups. ROC curve was drawn to evaluate the predictive value and diagnostic efficiency. Spearman test was used for correlation analysis. Logistic single- and multiple-factor analyses were performed to identify the risk factors related to melanoma metastasis.

The expression of miR-489 in the research group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P < 0.001). However, the expression of miR-21 in the research group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P < 0.001). The expression of miR-489 and miR-21 was related to TNM stage and metastasis (P < 0.001). In the diagnosis of melanoma patients, the sensitivity, specificity, and AUC of miR-489 alone were 75.56%, 80.00%, and 0.852, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, and AUC of miR-21 alone were 77.78%, 82.22%, and 0.844, respectively. MiR-489 was negatively correlated with TNM stage of melanoma (r = -0.612, P < 0.001), while miR-21 was positively correlated with TNM stage (r = 0.609, P < 0.001). Logistic single- and multiple-factor regression analyses showed that TNM stage, miR-489, and mir-21 were independent risk factors for malignant melanoma metastasis.

MiR-489 and miR-21 may participate in the process of melanoma occurrence, development, and metastasis, and can be used as potential serum biomarkers for melanoma metastasis diagnosis and disease assessment.