Clinical significance of miRNA - 106a in non-small cell lung cancer patients who received cisplatin combined with gemcitabine chemotherapy

OBJECTIVE: Research has demonstrated that microRNA (miR)-106a is related to cisplatin resistance. We investigated the expression of miR-106a in the serum of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and their sensitivity to chemotherapy by cisplatin combined with gemcitabine. METHODS: Eighty-five NSCLC patients, who completed four cycles of gemcitabine and cisplatin chemotherapy, volunteered for this study and their serum samples were collected. Serum samples from 60 healthy subjects were used as controls. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (real-time qPCR) was used to quantify the level of miR-106a in the serum. Demographic and survival data of these patients were collected for the analysis. RESULTS: The expression of miR-106a in the serum of NSCLC patients was significantly higher than that of healthy subjects (P < 0.001). The expression of miR-106a was not correlated with patients' gender, age, tumor size, lymphatic metastasis, and pathological types; but was correlated with patients' tumor staging ( P = 0.003). After chemotherapy, serum miR-106a expression decreased in patients. The decrease in miR-106a expression in the chemotherapy-sensitive group was much higher than that in the chemotherapy-resistant group. Survival analysis shows that NSCLC patients with high expression of miR-106a have a poorer prognosis. The overall survival of NSCLC patients in the chemotherapy-sensitive group was significantly higher than that in the chemotherapy-resistant group. CONCLUSIONS: High expression of miR-106a may be involved in the development of NSCLC. MiR-106a has significance in the prognosis of NSCLC. The level of miR-106a in the serum can be a useful parameter in screening for drug resistance during cisplatin-based chemotherapy.