miR-301a expression: A prognostic marker for prostate cancer.

PURPOSE: The diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer (CaP) continues to be challenging, as prostate-specific antigen (PSA) appears to be overly sensitive and biopsy is the only reliable method for confirmation. Hence, the goal of the study is to identify a biomarker that could distinguish malignant cancer from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) during the early diagnosis of the disease.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 75 formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) with matching controls, 4 paired metastatic tumors, 6 fresh tumor tissues and BPH (13 cases) with their clinical diagnosis were selected for this study. Prostate cancer cell lines and normal prostate epithelial cell lines were obtained from ATCC and subjected to phenotypic analysis.

RESULTS: We observed significant differential expression of miR-301a in CaP samples in comparison to BPH and adjacent benign samples. The overexpression of miR-301a activates the invasion/migration of CaP cells. In contrast, silencing miR-301a expression inhibited the colony-forming ability, adhesion, invasion and migration of CaP cells. Similarly, the overexpression of miR-301a increased cell motility in normal RWPE-1 prostate epithelial cells. Our results suggest that miR-301a is differentially expressed between BPH and CaP specimens and that the expression of miR-301a correlates with biochemical recurrence and/or metastasis in CaP patients.

CONCLUSIONS: The expression of miR-301a could be a potential marker for metastasis in CaP patients. Detecting miR-301a expression during diagnosis will avoid wait and watch timelines, thus preventing morbidity.