Identification of differentially expressed microRNAs between human HCC tumors with and without vascular invasion [batch 1]

Non-coding microRNAs (miRNAs) mainly regulate the expression of targeted genes by regulating mRNA degradation or repressing their protein translation. Recent research has shown miRNAs to have remarkable potential as biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of disease. Since vascular invasion (VI) provides a direct path for solid tumor metastasis/recurrence, in this study we investigated if miRNAs can serve as a biomarker to differentiate between VI- and VI+ tumors. MiRNA microarray profiling was then performed on 172 human HCC tumors samples with or without VI from HCC patients. MiRNA microarray analysis was performed on miRNA extracted from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) HCC tumor specimens. The first batch of 57 HCC tumors was analyzed and the differentially expressed miRNAs were obtained between 34 VI- and 23 VI+ tumors. To avoid a potential batch effect, the second batch of 115 HCC tumor foci included 57 VI- and 58 VI+ tumors were then independently analyzed. Our study was performed with approval of the University of Rochester Research Subjects Review Board (RSRB00029467).