Clinicopathological implications of miR-3127 in melanoma

Cutaneous melanoma is the most lethal of all skin cancers. Recent studies suggested that miR-3127 is dysregulated in multiple tumor types and has important roles in tumorigenesis and cancer progression, giving it potential as a prognostic biomarker. The aim of this study was to use bioinformatic analysis to assess miR-3127 expression and correlate expression patterns with disease course in patients with cutaneous melanoma.

miRNA, mRNA sequencing, DNA methylation data, and clinical information of cutaneous melanoma cases were downloaded from the Human Cancer Atlas - Skin Cutaneous Melanoma (TCGA-SKCM). miR-3127 expression was classified into miR-3127-low and miR-3127-high clusters using maximally selected rank statistics.

Clustering analysis showed that high expression of miR-3127 (≥20.3 reads per million) was associated with worse progression-free (p < .001) and overall (p = .011) survival compared to low miR-3127 expression. More than five thousand differentially expressed genes between the two miR-3127 sample groups encoded cell differentiation markers, cytokines, growth factors, translocated cancer genes, and oncogenes. Pathway analysis revealed that miR-3127-high samples related to activity of proliferation, DNA repair, and ultraviolet response.

The expression level of miR-3127 could act as a prognostic indicator for patients with melanoma.