Microrna-21 Is A Potential Indicator For The Pathological Progression Of Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer is a disease of high incidence, affecting numerous female patients' health and life. miR-21 is reported to play oncogenic roles in various cancers including cervical cancer, but its correlation with cervical cancer pathological progression is not fully understood. This study aims at revealing the expression pattern of miR-21 in the tissues of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and cervical cancer patients of different pathological grades. miR-21 levels in 35 CIN and 35 cervical cancer specimens were detected by qRT-PCR and compared to 40 normal specimens. Then in the 35 cervical cancer specimens, miR-21 levels were compared in different cancer variables. Its roles in cervical cancer cell migration and invasion were again verified by Transwell experiments after vector transfection to overexpress pre-miR-21 or miR-21 sponge in HeLa cells. miR-21 was promoted in CIN tissues compared to normal tissues (P < 0.05), and elevated in cervical cancer tissues compared to CIN tissues (P < 0.05). In cervical cancer tissues, miR-21 expression did not vary significantly with different patient ages or tumor sizes (P > 0.05), but it was significantly up-regulated in cancer tissues with higher pathology grades, clinical stages and lymphatic or distant metastasis (P < 0.05), which was supported by Transwell results that miR-21 promoted HeLa cell migration and invasion. These results indicated that the up-regulation of miR-21 might be associated with severer cervical cancer grades, implying the role of miR-21 as a possible indicator for the pathological progression of cervical cancer.