Prognostic roles of microRNA 143 and microRNA 145 in colorectal cancer: A meta-analysis

Background: A systematic analysis was conducted to clarify the relationship between miR-143/145 and the prognosis of colorectal cancer.

Materials and methods: We searched four databases: PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library. We extracted and estimated the hazard ratios for survival outcomes, which compared low and high expression levels of miR-143/145 in colorectal cancer patients in the available studies. Each individual hazard ratio was used to calculate the pooled hazard ratio.

Results: A total of 17 articles including 5128 patients were ultimately included. The results showed that there was no significant difference between low expression and high expression of miR-143 in the overall survival of colon cancer patients. However, low expression of miR-143 was significantly associated with high event-free survival (hazard ratio (HR) 0.6; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.40, 0.88). Low expression of miR-145 was associated with poor prognosis of patients (HR 1.92; 95% CI 1.45, 2.54); those with low expression of miR-145 were at 1.92-fold higher risk for short-term overall survival than those with high expression of miR-145. MiR-145 was an unfavorable factor for the prognosis of colorectal cancer. There were no significant differences between low expression of miR-145 and high expression of miR-143 in event-free survival.

Conclusion: miR-143 and miR-145 have promising prognostic value for colorectal cancer. Low expression of miR-143 can predict high event-free survival, and low expression of miR-145 can predict poor overall survival.