MicroRNA-497-5p Is Downregulated in Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Associated with Tumorigenesis and Poor Prognosis in Patients

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been demonstrated to exhibit important regulatory roles in multiple malignancies, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). hsa-miR-497-5p was reported to involve in cancer progression and poor prognosis in many kinds of tumors. However, the expression and its clinical significance of hsa-miR-497-5p in HCC remain unclear. METHODS: In the present study, we investigated the expression of hsa-miR-497-5p in HCC and analyzed the correction of clinical features with prognosis. The expression levels of hsa-miR-497-5p and potential target genes were analyzed in HCC and adjacent noncancerous tissues using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to analyze hsa-miR-497-5p levels in 328 HCC tissues and 30 paired adjacent noncancer tissues. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) of patients with HCC were assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method and the log-rank test. RESULTS: The hsa-miR-497-5p expression levels were decreased, and its target genes ACTG1, CSNK1D, PPP1CC, and BIRC5 were upregulated in HCC tissues compared with normal tissues. Lower levels of hsa-miR-497-5p expression and higher levels of the four target genes were significantly associated with higher tumor diameter. Moreover, patients with lower hsa-miR-497-5p expression and higher target genes levels had shorter OS. CONCLUSION: The expression levels of hsa-miR-497-5p may play an important regulatory role in HCC and are closely correlated with HCC progression and poor prognosis in patients. The hsa-miR-497-5p may be a specific therapeutic target for the treatment of HCC.