Post-chemotherapy miR-146a expression and its prognostic potential in oral cancer patients

Purpose: To determine miR-146a expression level after chemotherapy in oral cancer patients, and itsprognostic value.Methods: Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used for the determination of miR-146 expression levels. Based on the results, the analysis of the miR-146a expression in oral cancer patients was performed by drawing ROC curve to provide information on the prognostic value of miR-146a. The survival of the patients was monitored over a period of 5 years. The patients were categorized into high- and low-expression groups, and multivariate Cox regression analysis method was adopted to provide a more comprehensive analysis of individual risk factors influencing the prognosis of oral cancer.Results: The miR-146a expression level in patients after chemotherapy was lower than that in patients before they received chemotherapy (p < 0.05). The specificity of using miR-146a to predict oral cancer was 76.83 %, the sensitivity 69.44 %, and the area between the curve and x-axis 0.78. In contrast, the survival level was significantly greater in high-expression patients (p < 0.05).Conclusion: The independent risk parameters for buccal carcinoma are drinking, smoking, chronic leukoplakia, and miR-146a.