Upregulation of miR-125b is associated with poor prognosis and trastuzumab resistance in HER2-positive gastric cancer

Gastric cancer is one of the most common types of human cancer associated with a poor prognosis. MicroRNAs (miRs), a class of non-coding RNAs that are 18–25 nucleotides in length, act as key regulators in gene expression, and have been implicated in various human cancer types. miR-125b has been implicated in the malignant progression of gastric cancer. However, the association between miR-125b expression, clinicopathological characteristics and trastuzumab resistance in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive gastric cancer remains unclear. In the current study, in situ hybridization data demonstrated that 81.8% (108/132) of gastric cancer tissues exhibited positive expression of miR-125b, while only 26.3% (10/38) of non-tumor gastric tissues were miR-125b-positive. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction data indicated that the expression level of miR-125b was markedly increased in gastric cancer tissues compared with non-cancerous gastric tissues. Furthermore, the miR-125b level was significantly associated with tumor (T) stage, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis and TNM stage of gastric cancer (P<0.05). Increased miR-125b expression predicated poor prognosis in patients with gastric cancer. For HER2-positive gastric cancer, the upregulation of miR-125b expression was significantly associated with advanced malignant progression, as well as a poor prognosis (P<0.05). Furthermore, data from the present study indicated that the increased miR-125b level was significantly associated with trastuzumab resistance in HER2-positive gastric cancer (P<0.05). Therefore, the current study suggests that miR-125b may become a potential biomarker for predicting prognoses and clinical outcomes in patients with HER2-positive gastric cancer that receive trastuzumab treatment.