Up-regulation of Mirna-222 Predicts Poor Prognosis and Tumor Progression in Patients with Advanced Stage Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancerrelated mortality worldwide and annually responsible for more than 500,000 deaths worldwide. Approximately 80% of the lung cancer patients have non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Once diagnosed, survival rates are low. Even diagnosed early, grade I lung cancer patients have only a 6070% five-year survival rate. Although interventions have been improved in recent years, the prognosis and long-term survival of the NSCLC patients are still poor. Thus, there is a need to identify novel, noninvasive prognostic biomarkers for NSCLC in order to improve diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are an abundant class of 17-25 nucleotides small non-coding RNAs and would post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression through directly binding to the 3’untranslational region (3’ UTR) of target mRNAs. Through the post-transcriptional path, miRNAs have been shown to play fundamental roles in diverse biological and pathological processes, including cell proActa Medica Mediterranea, 2017, 33: 231