OBJECTIVETo investigate the association of miR-199a expression with the clinicopathologic characteristics and the survival of patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

METHODSReal-time quantitative RT-PCR was used to detect the expression of miR-199a in the tumor tissues and paired adjacent normal tissues from 67 patients with RCC. The correlations of miR-199a expression with the clinicopathologic characteristics and survival of RCC patients were analyzed.

RESULTSPositive miR-199a expression was detected in both the RCC and adjacent normal tissues, but the tumor tissues showed a significantly lower expression level by a mean of 13.7 folds (P=0.003). The expression of miR-199a was negatively correlated with tumor recurrence in RCC patients in T stage (P<0.05), but showed no significant correlations with the patients age, histological type of the tumor, lymph node metastasis, distal metastasis, or Fuhrman grade (P>0.05). The patients with lowered miR-199a expression in the tumor tissue had a significantly shorter mean survival time than those without miR-199a down-regulation (P=0.017 by Log-rank test).

CONCLUSIONA decreased expression of miR-199a is significantly correlated with a higher tumor stage, a greater likeliness of tumor recurrence, and a poorer prognosis in RCC patients. miR-199a can serve as a promising prognostic factor of renal cell carcinoma.