Expression levels of microRNA-550a-5p in patients with spinal metastases from non-small cell lung cancer

This study aimed to investigate the expression levels of microRNA-550a-5p (miR-550a-5p) in patients with spinal metastases from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and to explore its clinical significance.

Serum miR‑550a‑5p levels were measured by RT‑qPCR in NSCLC patients with spinal metastasis, those without metastasis, and healthy controls. The correlation between miR‑550a‑5p and SPECT Soloway grading was assessed via Spearman correlation analysis. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify risk factors for spinal metastasis, while ROC analysis was used to evaluate the diagnostic value of miR‑550a‑5p.

Both the non-spine metastasis and spine metastasis groups exhibited higher miR-550a-5p expression than the control group, with the highest expression observed in the spine metastasis group. Univariate analysis showed that serum miR-550a-5p expression and Tumor-Node-Metastasis stage were associated with spinal metastasis, while multivariate analysis confirmed miR-550a-5p as an independent influencing factor. ROC analysis demonstrated that miR-550a-5p had good discriminatory ability between NSCLC patients with and without spinal metastasis. miR-550a-5p expression showed a significant positive correlation with Soloway grading of SPECT bone imaging.

miR-550a-5p is upregulated in NSCLC patients with spinal metastases and may serve as a molecular marker for diagnosing spinal metastases and assessing clinical severity.