Objective: The prognostic markers of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with bone metastasis are of great significance for the design of treatment strategy, the maintenance of life quality of the patients, and the improvement of cancer prognosis. MicroRNA-149 (miR-149) rs2292832 C/T polymorphism in HCC patients has been reported to be associated with the risk of HCC, but whether it can predict the prognosis of HCC patients with bone metastasis remains unclear. The goal of our study was to examine the prognostic impact of miR-149 rs2292832 C/T polymorphism on HCC patients with bone metastasis.
Methods: A total of 67 cases of HCC patients with bone metastasis (BC group) and 73 cases of HCC patients without bone metastasis (NC group) were included in this study. The miR-149 levels in blood leukocytes and tumor tissues were determined by qRT-PCR. Genotyping analysis of miR-149 rs2292832 was performed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay.
Results: The blood leukocyte miR-149 levels were significantly decreased in HCC patients, compared with the healthy controls, and they were significantly decreased in the BC patients, compared with the NC cases. BC patients carrying miR-149 rs2292832 CC+CT phenotype have a better overall survival (OS) rate, whereas no significant correlation was found between miR-149 rs2292832 CC+CT phenotype and the OS rate in NC group. The miR-149 rs2292832 CC+CT phenotype was correlated with certain bone turnover markers and bone metabolism markers but was not correlated with receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB ligand (RANKL) expression. Meanwhile, the combination of miR-149 rs2292832 CC+CT phenotype and RANKL expression could improve the prognosis assessment of HCC patients with bone metastasis.
Conclusion: miR-149 rs2292832 polymorphism might be a novel prognostic biomarker for HCC patients with bone metastasis. A follow-up study with a larger cohort from a multicenter should be performed to test our conclusions.
Keywords: HCC; biomarker; bone metastasis; microRNA; polymorphism; prognosis.
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