In both cohorts, exosomal miR-141-3p and miR-375 were higher in patients with synchronous liver metastasis than in those without (P = .010 and P = .017 respectively in the investigative cohort, and P < .001 for both in the validation cohort).
The probability of liver metastases in colorectal cancer patients was positively correlated with serum miR-141, miR-200b, and miR-200c expressions, which could be treated as new biomarker for early diagnosis of liver metastases in colorectal cancer.
Compared with the patients with colorectal cancer without liver metastasis, patients with liver metastasis had significantly higher serum levels of miR‑200 and miR‑141 (P<0.05).
Liver metastasis tissues showed higher expression of miR-200c (primary CRC = 1.31 vs. liver metastasis = 1.59; p = 0.0014) and miR-141 (primary CRC = 0.14 vs. liver metastasis = 0.17; p = 0.0234) than did primary CRCs, which was significantly associated with hypomethylation of the promoter region of these miRNAs (primary CRC = 61.2% vs. liver metastasis = 46.7%; p < 0.0001).