Quantitative Measurement of Serum MicroRNA-21 Expression in Relation to Breast Cancer Metastasis in Chinese Females

BACKGROUND Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in females. Aberrant expression of microRNA-21 (miR-21) has previously been reported in breast cancer tissue. The aim of this study was to investigate expression levels of serum miR-21 in breast cancer patients and evaluate its prognostic value in Chinese females. METHODS Real-time quantitative (RQ)-PCR was used to analyze miR-21 expression in archived serum, tumor tissue, and adjacent normal tissue from 549 participants (326 with breast cancer, 223 without breast cancer). We also analyzed associations between serum miR-21 expression and breast cancer subtypes and patient prognosis. Recurrence and survival were analyzed by using the multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS Expression of miR-21 was significantly higher in breast cancer tissues compared with normal adjacent breast tissues (P<0.001). The 2(-ΔΔCt) values for serum miR-21 in breast cancer patients versus healthy controls were 9.12±3.43 and 2.96±0.73, respectively. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards model suggested that serum miR-21 expression was an independent poor prognostic factor for both recurrence (hazard ratio [HR]= 2.942; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.420-8.325; P=0.008) and disease-free survival (HR=2.732; 95% CI=1.038-7.273, P=0.003) in breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS Increased serum miR-21 expression level was correlated with poor prognosis of breast cancer patients, indicating that serum miR-21 may be a novel prognostic marker for recurrence and survival of breast cancer patients before resection.