DNA methylation mediated silencing of microRNA-874 is a promising diagnosis and prognostic marker in breast cancer

MicroRNA-874 (miR-874) is downregulated in several human cancers and has been suggested to be a tumor suppressor gene. However, the molecular mechanism of miR-874 downregulation in breast cancer has not been well elucidated. Here we aimed to study the aberrant hyper-methylation of CpG sites with the utility of miR-874 downreregulation in breast cancer and evaluate the clinical function of miR-874 as a prognostic marker. The miR-874 expressions in cells and tissues of two breast cancer lines were measured by real-time PCR. The DNA methylation status of the miR-874 promoter region in 19 pairs of breast cancer and adjacent normal samples was analyzed with Sequenom EpiTYPER MassArray. To evaluate whether miR-874 is a potential prognostic marker in breast cancer, we also explored the clinical long-time follow-up records from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We found miR-874 expression was downregulated in 47 pairs of breast cancer tissues. Moreover, univariate and multivariate analysis revealed miR-874 expression may be a prognostic biomarker of overall survival in breast cancer patients. Preconditioning with 5-Aza-CdR in two cell lines elevated miR-874 expressions. The data from Sequenom EpiTYPER MassArray showed that DNA methylation of the promoter region of miR-874 was upregulated and accompanied by decreased miR-874 expression, which was further confirmed by TCGA. After comprehensive considerations, we think miR-874, which might be served as a prognostic biomarker, is mediated by DNA methylation.