LAUSR

BACKGROUND Prostate cancer is a common male cancer with poor prognosis, and to find molecular diagnostic markers for the early diagnosis of prostate cancer is urgently needed. The aim of this study is to investigate the diagnostic value of serum expression level of miR-494 for prostate cancer. METHODS Ninety patients with prostate cancer and 90 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia were enrolled in this study, and 90 healthy volunteers served as the control group. The serum of the participants was collected, and the expression level of miR-494 was measured by RT-PCR. Then the relationship between the expression of miR-494 and the clinical characteristics of the patients was analyzed. Moreover, the correlation between the expression of miR-494 and the Gleason score as well as serum level of prostate specific antigen (PSA) were analyzed. Finally, the diagnostic value of miR-494 for the early diagnosis of prostate cancer was analyzed by ROC curve. RESULTS miR-494 was significantly increased in the prostatic hyperplasia group compared with the control group, and the level of miR-494 in the prostate cancer group was significantly higher than that in the prostatic hyperplasia group. The level of miR-494 in patients with prostate cancer was positively correlated with tumor size and tumor stage. Moreover, the level of miR-494 was positively correlated with the Gleason score (r = 0.3371, p = 0.0012) and serum level of PSA (r = 0.3485, p = 0.0008) in patients with prostate cancer. Finally, AUC of miR-494 was 0.8090 (95% confidence interval 0.7343 to 0.8837), suggesting that miR-494 is a sensitive biomarker for the diagnosis of prostate cancer. CONCLUSIONS miR-494 was upregulated in the serum of the patients with prostate cancer and circulating miR-494 can be used as a biomarker for the early diagnosis of prostate cancer.