An ER-associated miRNA signature predicts prognosis in ER-positive breast cancer

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer patients with positive estrogen receptor (ER) have a better prognosis. However, no prognostic miRNA signature was reported in the ER-positive breast cancer. The aim of the study was to identify and assess the prognostic significance of a miRNA signature in ER-positive breast cancer. METHODS: Two cohorts from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset were used as training (n =596) and testing set (n =319). Differential expression profiling was identified in the training set. And the prognostic value of the miRNA signature was then assessed in the two cohorts. RESULTS: A total of 14 miRNAs were observed to be associated with the status of ER by significance analysis of microarrays (SAM) in the training set. Patients were characterized as high score or low score group according to the calculated risk scores from each miRNA. And patients in high score group had worse overall survival compared with those in low score group both in the training and testing set. CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed a miRNA signature including 14 miRNAs associated with ER status which could act as a prognostic marker in ER-positive breast cancer. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13046-014-0094-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.