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Reduced expression of Dicer11 is associated with poor prognosis in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma

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Abstract

Dicer11 plays an important role in generation of microRNA and is dysregulated in a variety of human cancers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate Dicer11 expression and its prognostic value in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The protein expression of Dicer1 was examined by immunohistochemistry in 276 NPC specimens, and the mRNA levels of Dicer1 were analyzed by qRT-PCR in 56 NPC and 11 nasopharyngitis tissues. Cox regression analysis was used to identify independent prognostic factors, and a prognostic score model was constructed for survival prediction. Expression of Dicer1 was downregulated in NPC tissues at both the mRNA and the protein levels, and there was a notable positive correlation between the expression levels of Dicer1 mRNA and protein. Low Dicer1 expression was positively correlated with distant metastasis (P < 0.01) and death (P = 0.01). In addition, low expression of Dicer1 was significantly associated with poorer overall survival (HR, 2.32; 95 % CI 1.30–4.14; P < 0.01) and poorer distant metastasis-free survival (HR, 2.56; 95 % CI 1.39–4.74; P < 0.01). Furthermore, multivariate analysis showed that low expression of Dicer1 and tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage was independent prognostic indicators for NPC patients. A prognostic score model combining the Dicer1 expression and TNM stage had a better prognostic value than the TNM stage alone model or Dicer1 expression alone model (P < 0.05). Dicer1 was downregulated in NPC tissues at both the mRNA and the protein levels, and low expression of Dicer1 could be served as novel prognostic biomarker for NPC patients.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the Science Foundation of the Key Hospital Clinical Program of the Ministry of Health, P.R. China (No. 2010-178), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81071835, 31170151), the Guangdong Province Universities and Colleges Pearl River Scholar Funded Scheme (2010), and the Key Scientific and Technological Innovation Program for Universities of Guangdong Province (No. cxzd1005).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Department of Radiation Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng Road East, Guangzhou, 510060, People’s Republic of China

    Na Liu, Rui-Xue Cui, Qing-Mei He, Ying Sun & Jun Ma

  2. State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Department of Experiment Research, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng Road East, Room 617, Guangzhou, 510060, People’s Republic of China

    Bi-Jun Huang & Hui-Yun Wang

  3. State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Department of Pathology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China

    Dan Xie & Jing Zeng

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  1. Na Liu
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  9. Jun Ma
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Correspondence to Hui-Yun Wang or Jun Ma.

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Na Liu and Rui-Xue Cui contributed equally to this article.

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Liu, N., Cui, RX., He, QM. et al. Reduced expression of Dicer11 is associated with poor prognosis in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Med Oncol 30, 360 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-012-0360-3

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