Abstract:Objective To explore the association of micro RNA(miR)-1203 with the metastasis and prognostic prediction of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods Eighty patients with HCC, 8 patients with hepatic hemangioma and 7 patient with liver cirrhosis admitted in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from July 2009 to October 2010 were selected, and real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect miR-1203 expression in HCC tissues.The relationship between miR-1203 expression level and the clinicopathologic features of HCC was analyzed.Tissue samples of 20 patients(HCC without metastasis in 4 cases, HCC with portal vein metastasis in 4 case, HCC with intrahepatic metastasis in 5 cases, hepatic hemangioma as normal control in 3 cases, liver cirrhosis as negative control in 4 cases)were collected for gene sequencing and screening.Cluster analysis and Venn diagram analysis were used to detect differently expressed miRs to analyze the correlation between high expression of miR-1203 and metastasis of HCC.Effect of miR-1203 on invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma cells was determined by Transwell invasive experiment in vitro.Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to analyze the difference of survival rate.Cox proportional regression analysis was used to predict the independent risk factors of prognosis of HCC patients. Results Clinical pathological features analysis showed that miR-1203 expression was closely correlated with vascular invasion and tumor grading of HCC(P<0.05, P<0.01).Venn diagram analysis and large sample verification showed that miR-1203 presented significant high-expression in metastatic HCC tissues of HCC patients(P<0.05).The expression level of serum miR-1203 significantly increased in metastatic HCC patients.Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that overall survival rate and relapse free survival rate in patients with miR-1203 low-expression were all significantly higher than those in patients with miR-1203 higher-expression (all P<0.01).Cox proportional regression analysis suggested that miR-1203 can be served as an independent mark of predicting prognosis of HCC patients (95%CI:1.906-8.784, P<0.01). Conclusion The high expression of miR-1203 might promote the metastasis of HCC and predict poor outcome of HCC patients.miRNA-1203 can be served a new clinical detection index of predicting prognosis of HCC patients.