Correlation between microRNA-766 expression in patients with advanced gastric cancer and the efficacy of platinum-containing chemotherapy.

OBJECTIVE We aimed at observing the correlation between microRNA-766 expression and the efficacy of platinum-containing chemotherapy in patients with stage IV gastric cancer (GCa). PATIENTS AND METHODS Tissue specimens were obtained from 100 patients with stage IV GCa who received platinum-based chemotherapy, and microRNA-766 expression in these samples was examined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis. Survival analysis was carried out through Kaplan-Meier test. The influencing factors of survival were assessed through COX univariate and multivariate regression. RESULTS GCa tissues contained significant lower expression of microRNA-766 than adjacent tissues. The degree of tumor differentiation and peritoneal metastasis were confirmed to have great relevance to microRNA-766 level. Patients with high microRNA-766 expression have better chemotherapy efficacy and longer progression-free survival. CONCLUSIONS Our study shows for the first time that the highly expressed microRNA-766 in tumor tissues of patients with stage Ⅳ GCa predicts better platinum-containing chemotherapy efficacy and prognosis.