TY - JOUR T1 - MiR-27 as a Prognostic Marker for Breast Cancer Progression and Patient Survival A1 - Tang, Wei A1 - Zhu, Jiujun A1 - Su, Shicheng A1 - Wu, Wei A1 - Liu, Qiang A1 - Su, Fengxi A1 - Yu, Fengyan Y1 - 2012/12/11 N2 - Background MicroRNA-27a (miR-27a) is thought to be an onco-microRNA that promotes tumor growth and metastasis by downregulating ZBTB10. The potential predictive value of miR-27a was studied in breast cancer patients. Methods The expression of miR-27a and ZBTB10 was examined in 102 breast cancer cases using in situ hybridization (ISH) and immunohistochemistry techniques and were evaluated semi-quantitatively by examining the staining index. The Correlation of miR-27a and ZBTB10 expression was analyed by Spearman Rank Correlation. The association of miR-27a and ZBTB10 expression with clinicopathological characteristics was analyzed using the χ2 test, and their effects on patient survival were analyzed by a log-rank test and the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to evaluate the prognostic values of miR-27a and ZBTB10. Results miR-27a was markedly up-regulated in invasive breast cancers that expressed low levels of ZBTB10 (P<0.001). A reverse correlation between miR-27a and ZBTB10 was also observed in breast cancer tissue samples (rs = −0.478, P<0.001). Furthermore, the expression of miR-27a and ZBTB10 was significantly correlated with clinicopathological parameters, including tumor size, lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis (P<0.05), but not with receptor status. Patients with high miR-27a or low ZBTB10 expression tended to have significantly shorter disease-free survival times (57 months and 53 months, respectively, P <0.001) and overall survival times (58 months and 55 months, respectively, P <0.001). Univariate and multivariate analysis showed that both miR-27a and ZBTB10 were independent prognostic factors of disease-free survival in breast cancer patients (P <0.001), while only miR-27a was an independent predictor of overall survival (P <0.001). Conclusions High miR-27a expression is associated with poor overall survival in patients with breast cancer, which suggests that miR-27a could be a valuable marker of breast cancer progression. JF - PLOS ONE JA - PLOS ONE VL - 7 IS - 12 UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0051702 SP - e51702 EP - PB - Public Library of Science M3 - doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0051702 ER -