Increased expression of miR-148b in ovarian carcinoma and its clinical significance

Ovarian cancer affects females worldwide and is associated with poor patient prognosis. Identification of diagnostic biomarkers and effective therapeutic targets is vital for the diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer. Recently, researchers have found that microRNAs play several important roles in carcinogenesis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between miR-148b expression in human ovarian cancer tissues and clinicopathological features. Seventy-seven ovarian carcinoma tissues and 17 normal ovary tissues were collected from the First Hospital of China Medical University. For quantitative detection of the expression levels of miR-148b, total RNA was extracted and then reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was performed. The relationship between miR-148b expression in ovarian cancer and clinicopathological features was analyzed. We found that miR-148b was overexpressed in 92.21% (71/77) of the ovarian cancer samples examined, and overexpression of miR-148b in ovarian cancer tissues was not associated with any of the clinicopathological features of patients with ovarian cancer. Taken together, miR-148b may be involved in the early stage of ovarian carcinogenesis and could be used as an efficient diagnostic biomarker.