Additionally, re-analysis of previously published expression data of two matching cohorts (<i>n</i> = 100, <i>n</i> = 255) supports an association of hsa-miR-128-3p with shortened disease-free survival (HR:2.48, <i>p</i> = 0.0033) and an upregulation of miR-7-5p (<i>p</i> = 0.0038; <i>p</i> = 0.039) and miR-210-3p (<i>p</i> = 0.031) in primary tumors of patients who experienced metastases.
Together, these results indicate that miR-210-3p plays an important role in the regulation of bladder cancer growth and metastasis in vitro and in vivo through targeting FGFRL1.
Furthermore, the plasma level of miR-200a was significantly associated with the stage in surgery ( P = .035), and the high level of miR-210 expression was associated with internal organ metastasis (liver, lung, and brain; P = .024).
In multivariate analysis, miR-210 lost its statistically significant association with shorter disease-free survival and overall survival after adjusting for tumor size and tumor, node, metastasis stage.
Validation by RT-qPCR in a LAC cohort comprising 52 patients confirmed that decreased expression of miR-30a-3p and increased expression of miR-210-3p were significantly associated with the presence of distant metastases. miR-210-3p tumor cell specificity was evaluated by in situ hybridization and its biomarker potential was confirmed by ROC curve analysis (AUC = 0.839).
Moreover, MYCBP expression was positively correlated with tumor volume, and metastasis was associated with the expression of miR-210-5p and TGF-α in our patient cohort.