Table 1.
A list of representative miRNAs identified in tumor tissues that are of prognostic value in colorectal cancer patients
| miRNA | Method of detection | Patient number | Observations and correlation with clinical outcome | Ref. |
| miR-15a/miR-16 | qRT-PCR | 126 | miR-15a/miR-16 downregulation were significantly associated with advanced TNM staging, poorly histological grade, positive lymph node metastasis. miR-15a/miR-16 combination were identified as independent predictors of unfavorable OS and DFS | [183] |
| miR-17-5p | qRT-PCR | 110 | High expressions were associated with pathological tumor features of poor prognosis. miR-17-5p correlated with DFS only at early stages | [184] |
| miR-21 | In situ hybridization | 84 | High miR-21 expressions were strongly associated with poor survival, more advanced TNM staging and poor therapeutic outcome | [90] |
| miR-29a | miRNA microarray, qRT-PCR | 110 | High expressions were associated with a longer DFS in CRC patients with stage II but not in stage I tumor | [61] |
| miR-34a-5p | qRT-PCR | 205 | The tissue expressions of miR-34a-5p was positively correlated with DFS. Moreover, expression of miR-34a-5p was an independent prognostic factor for CRC recurrence | [185] |
| miR-106a | qRT-PCR | 110 | Downregulation of miR-106a predicted shortened DFS and OS, independent of tumor stage | [184] |
| miR-132 | miRNA microarray, qRT-PCR | 28 (testing); 151 (validation) | Low expressions were associated with poor OS and occurrence of liver metastasis | [186] |
| miR-150 | qRT-PCR, in situ hybridization | 239 | High expressions were associated with longer OS. Low expressions were associated with poor therapeutic outcome in patients treated with 5-FU-based chemotherapy with or without leucovorin, levamisole or cisplatin | [91] |
| miR-181a | qRT-PCR | 162 | High expressions were correlated with poor patient prognosis. Overexpression of miR-181a repressed the expression of the tumor suppressor (PTEN) at mRNA level | [187] |
| miR-181b | qRT-PCR | 345 | High expressions were correlated with poor survival in black patients with stage II CRC | [188] |
| miR-188-3p | Level 3 Illumina miRNASeq data were analyzed from TCGA databasec | 228 | High expressions were associated with lower OS, higher tumor stage and indirectly with BRAF status | [99] |
| miR-195 | qRT-PCR | 85 | Reduced expressions of miR-195 were correlated with occurrence of lymph node metastasis and advanced tumor stage | [189] |
| miR-199b | miRNA microarray and qRT-PCR | 60 | Higher level in metastatic CRC tissue compared with non-metastatic CRC tissue; low expressions were associated with longer OS | [190] |
| miR-203 | microRNA microarray, qRT-PCR | 197 | High expressions were associated with more advanced TNM staging and poor survival | [90] |
| miR-215 | qRT-PCR | 34 | High expressions were closely associated with poor OS | [191] |
| miR-218 | qRT-PCR | 63 | High expressions were significantly associated with higher PFS, OS and response to 5-FU based chemotherapy | [192] |
| miR-320e | miRNA microarray and qRT-PCR | 100 | Elevated expressions were associated with poorer DFS and OS in stage III CRC patients | [93] |
| miR-429 | qRT-PCR | 116 | High levels were correlated with OS; low levels were associated with favorable response to 5-FU-based chemotherapy | [193] |
| miR-494 | qRT-PCR | 104 | High expressions were significantly associated with shorter DFS and OS. When used as a panel with 5 other miRNAs, the signature can distinguish early relapsed from non-early relapsed CRC. | [194] |
| miR-625-3p | qRT-PCR | 94 | High expressions were associated with higher OS, PFS and better response to treatment | [94] |
| 3-miRNA signature (let-7i, miR-10b, miR-30b) | qRT-PCR | 232 | The addition of miR-30b to the 2-miRNA signature allowed the prediction of both distant metastasis and hepatic recurrence in patients with stage I-II CRC who did not receive adjuvant chemotherapy | [195] |
| A multi-RNA-based classifier (consisting of 12 mRNAs, 1 miRNA (miR-27a) and 1 lnc RNA) | mRNA, miRNA and lncRNA data were retrieved from the TCGA data portal | 663 | The classifier can divide patients into high and low risk groups with significantly different OS. Moreover, the classifier is not only independent of clinical features but also with a similar prognostic ability to the well-established TNM stage | [196] |
OS: Overall survival ; DFS: Disease free survival; lnc RNA: Long non-coding RNA; TCGA : The Cancer Genome Atlas Project (http://tcga-data.nci.nih.gov/).