miR-202 expression concentration and its clinical significance in the serum of multiple myeloma patients

OBJECTIVES: To explore microRNA-202 (miR-202) expression in serum of patients with multiple myeloma (MM), and investigate correlations between serum miR-202 expression and the development and prognosis of MM. DESIGN AND METHODS: RNA was extracted from serum by QIAGEN miRNeasy Mini kit. Reverse transcription was performed with specific stem-loop primers. SYBR Green I QF-PCR was applied to detect the relative expression of miR-202 in 40 MM patients and 30 healthy controls. The linearity, specificity and reproducibility were evaluated. In addition, correlations between the relative expression of serum miR-202 and the concentrations of lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH), β2M, λ light chain and κ light chain were assessed. RESULTS: The relative expression of miR-202 in MM patients 1.503 (0.161-9.831) was significantly higher than that in healthy controls 1.000 (0.105-3.046) (P < 0.01) and was significantly correlated with serum β2M and κ light chain concentrations (r = 0.366, P = 0.0305; r = 0.358, P = 0.0348). CONCLUSIONS: The relative expression of serum miR-202 in MM patients was significantly higher than that in healthy controls, and therefore it may prove to be useful in the auxiliary diagnosis of MM.