Compared with BCa patients with low expression of miRNA-221-5p, those with high expression had a higher incidence of lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis.
HCC xenograft in nude mice was performed to measure HCC tumor growth. miR-221 was found to be highly expressed but SOCS3 was poorly expressed in HCC tissues. miR-221 expression was correlated with lymph node metastasis (LNM) and tumor node metastasis (TNM) of HCC, and SOCS3 expression was correlated with LNM, differentiation and TNM of HCC.SOCS3 is a target gene of miR-221.
Increased levels of miR-9 and miR-221 in breast tissue portended a significantly elevated risk of progression to malignancy with respect to larger tumor size, poor differentiation, late-stage evolution, lymph-node metastasis (P < 0.05), and lower overall survival (Ptrend = 0.017; eight-year follow-up).
While the LncRNA GAS5 expression in tissues, plasma and exosomes were associated with the tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage, Dukes stage, lymph node metastasis (LNM), local recurrence rate and distant metastasis rate, the MiR-221 expression in tissues, plasma and exosomes were associated with tumor size, TNM stage, Dukes stage, LNM, local recurrence rate and distant metastasis rate.
Our findings uncover a mechanistic role for miR-221-3p in lymph node metastasis, suggesting that miR-221-3p is upregulated by the transcription factor TWIST2 and downregulates its target THBS2, which may potentially promote lymph node metastasis in cervical cancer.