MicroRNA-210 overexpression predicts poorer prognosis in glioma patients

MicroRNA-210 (miR-210) levels are elevated in many tumor types, are frequently associated with hypoxia induction, and are correlated with poor prognosis in many solid tumors. miR-210 regulates cell growth, angiogenesis, invasion, and apoptosis of many human tumors. In this study, we investigated the clinical significance of miR-210 expression in common brain tumors, or human gliomas. Glioma samples and normal brain tissues were analyzed using real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction to characterize the expression patterns of miR-210. The association of miR-210 expression with clinicopathological parameters and prognosis of glioma patients was statistically analyzed. Gliomas were further divided by grade: pilocytic astrocytoma (World Health Organization [WHO] grade I), diffuse astrocytomas (WHO grade II), anaplastic astrocytomas (WHO grade III), and glioblastoma (WHO grade IV). There was a significantly higher expression level of miR-210 amongst the glioma tissues as compared with normal brain tissues (p < 0.001). Increased expression of miR-210 in glioma tissues was significantly associated with advanced pathological grade (p < 0.001) and low Karnofsky Performance Score (p = 0.014). In addition, increased miR-210 levels were also associated with poor progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) rates when compared to the normal control (both p < 0.001), as calculated by Kaplan-Meier survival and Cox regression analyses. Furthermore, subgroup analyses showed that miR-210 expression was significantly associated with poor PFS and OS of glioma patients with high pathological grades (III-IV: both p < 0.001). miR-210 is highly expressed in human gliomas and confers a poor prognosis in glioma patients. These findings may bring the development of novel, tailored pharmacological therapies for glioma patients.