Independent and tissue-specific prognostic impact of miR-126 in nonsmall cell lung cancer

Abstract

Backkground: Angiogenesis is pivotal in tumor development. Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) is considered one of the most important angiogenic factors, but lately several microRNAs (miRs) have been associated with vascular development. miR-126 has been related to tumor angiogenesis and in the regulation of VEGF-A. The authors aimed to investigate the prognostic impact of miR-126 and its co-expression with VEGF-A in nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Methods: Tumor tissue samples from 335 resected stage I to IIIA NSCLC patients were obtained and tissue microarrays (TMAs) were constructed with 4 cores from each tumor specimen. VEGF-A expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry, and in situ hybridization was used to evaluate the expression of miR-126. Results: In the total material, miR-126 was a significant negative prognostic factor in both univariate (P =.005) and multivariate analyses (hazard ratio [HR] 1.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2-2.8, P =.01). Stratified by histology, miR-126 was only significant in squamous cell carcinomas (univariate: P