miR-199a-3p downregulation in thyroid tissues is associated with invasion and metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma

AbstractBackground and aims: miR-199a-3p may play an important role in tumour inhibition. The aim of the present study was to determine any link between miR-199a-3p expression in thyroid tissues and clinicopathologic features, as well as to assess potential usefulness of miR-199a-3p in prediction for invasion and metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).Methods: A total of 188 tissue samples (136 PTCs, 52 normal thyroid tissue) were collected. We measured the levels of miR-199a-3p with quantitative reverse-transcriptase PCR (RT-qPCR) in all subjects. In addition, the correlation between the expression levels of miR-199a-3p and clinicopathological factors was explored.Results: qRT-PCR indicated that the expression levels of miR-199a-3p was 7.1 (95% CI, 3.9–12.4) in PTCs, which was significantly lower than that of in the normal thyroid tissues 31.4 (95% CI, 15.4–44.3) (p = 0.002). Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analyses revealed that miR-199a-3p could be promising biomarkers for PTC, w...