Background: Recently, esophageal cancer has become more common in China. To find a molecular biomarker will provide a handy way to improve precancerous diagnosis and evaluate the state of lymph node metastasis, improving prognosis. The present study aimed to investigate the expression level of hsa-miR-6743-5p in 25 esophageal tissues and to estimate the correlation between clinicopathological features of esophageal squamous cell cancer with miR-6743-5p expression.
Methods: Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was performed to examine the expression level of miR-6743-5p in 25 pairs of esophageal cancer tissues and adjacent non-cancerous tissues. The correlation between miR-6743-5p level and clinical characteristics was determined.
Results: The examined esophageal squamous cell cancer tissues exhibited no statistical difference on miR-6743-5p expression compared to the adjacent non-tumor tissues. miR-6743-5p was positively associated with lymph node metastasis. Downregulation of miR-6743-5p was found in the patients with lymph node metastasis while upregulation of miR-6743-5p was found in those without lymph node metastasis.
Conclusions: Our study suggests that the expression of miR-6743-5p is different in different lymph node metastasis statuses. miR-6743-5p expression is downregulated in patients with lymph node metastasis in esophageal cancer.