Identification and validation of a miRNA-based prognostic signature for cervical cancer through an integrated bioinformatics approach

Abstract

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide. Increasing evidence has shown that miRNAs are related to the progression of cervical cancer. However, the mechanisms that affect the prognosis of cancer are still largely unknown. In the present study, we sought to identify miRNAs associated with poor prognosis of patient with cervical cancer, as well as the possible mechanisms regulated by them. The miRNA expression profiles and relevant clinical information of patients with cervical cancer were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The selection of prognostic miRNAs was carried out through an integrated bioinformatics approach. The most effective miRNAs with synergistic and additive effects were selected for validation through in vitro experiments. Three miRNAs (miR-216b-5p, miR-585-5p, and miR-7641) were identified as exhibiting good performance in predicting poor prognosis through additive effects analysis. The functional enrichment analysis suggested that not only pathways traditionally involved in cancer but also immune system pathways might be important in regulating the outcome of the disease. Our findings demonstrated that a synergistic combination of three miRNAs may be associated, through their regulation of specific pathways, with very poor survival rates for patients with cervical cancer.

Performance of Nomogram Prediction Combining MiRNAs in Cervical Mucus, HPV Genotype and Age for Cervical Cancer and its Precursor Lesions

“…The low score of predicted probability in cervical cancer was associated with good prognosis during the 2-year observation period (Figure 3), and a low score was consistent with early clinical stage. Despite some analyses linking the aberrant expression of a combination of miR-216b,-585b and -7641 25 and others 22 with signi cant differences of patient survival, there are no reports regarding the association between prognosis and the expression of the miRNAs described in the present paper.…”

MicroRNA as a Novel Biomarker in the Diagnosis of Head and Neck Cancer

“…Therefore, using miRNA fingerprint, a more accurate diagnosis can be expected than in the case of traditional methods. For many years, miRNA has been successfully linked with the diagnosis of specific types of cancer such as lung cancer [75,76], breast cancer [77,78], colorectal cancer [79,80], ovarian cancer [81,82], or cervical cancer [83,84]. Currently, however, research is going much further, allowing for far-reaching identification with a high degree of specialization.…”

Cervical Cancer, Papillomavirus, and miRNA Dysfunction

“…Downregulation of miR-188 and upregulation of miR-223 is linked with short survival of cervical cancer patients, while downregulation of miR-125b and miR-99a was associated with the 5-years survival rate (Gao et al, 2018). Qi et al by bioinformatics assays validated the signature of a set of miRNAs correlated to cancer prognosis (miR-585-5p, miR-216b-5p, and miR-7641) and validate these miRNAs through in vitro assays (Qi et al, 2020). Moreover, it was established that miR-503 and miR-424 are expressed as a cluster and it was downregulated in CC cells.…”