@article{3089199,
    title = "The clinical utility of miR-21 as a diagnostic and prognostic marker for renal cell carcinoma",
    author = "Faragalla, H. and Youssef, Y.M. and Scorilas, A. and Khalil, B. and White, N.M.A. and Mejia-Guerrero, S. and Khella, H. and Jewett, M.A.S. and Evans, A. and Lichner, Z. and Bjarnason, G. and Sugar, L. and Attalah, M.I. and Yousef, G.M.",
    journal = "The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics",
    year = "2012",
    volume = "14",
    number = "4",
    pages = "385-392",
    issn = "1525-1578",
    doi = "10.1016/j.jmoldx.2012.02.003",
    keywords = "bone morphogenetic protein;  epidermal growth factor receptor;  granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor;  guanosine triphosphatase;  interleukin 3;  interleukin 5;  interleukin 6;  microRNA 21;  mitogen activated protein kinase;  nerve growth factor;  phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5 trisphosphate 3 phosphatase;  platelet derived growth factor;  RNA polymerase II;  semaphorin;  T lymphocyte receptor;  toll like receptor;  transforming growth factor beta;  tuberin;  very late activation antigen 2;  von Hippel Lindau protein, adult;  aged;  article;  bioinformatics;  cancer diagnosis;  cancer grading;  cancer prognosis;  cancer staging;  cancer survival;  carcinogenicity;  chromophobe adenoma;  clear cell carcinoma;  controlled study;  diagnostic value;  disease free survival;  disease severity;  female;  human;  human tissue;  kidney carcinoma;  major clinical study;  male;  oncocytoma;  overall survival;  papillary carcinoma;  protein expression;  real time polymerase chain reaction;  receiver operating characteristic;  reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction;  RNA extraction;  sensitivity and specificity;  signal transduction;  upregulation, Carcinoma, Renal Cell;  Computational Biology;  Humans;  Kidney Neoplasms;  MicroRNAs;  Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction;  Tumor Markers, Biological",
    abstract = "Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common neoplasm of the kidney. Increasing evidence suggests that microRNAs are dysregulated in RCC and are important factors in RCC pathogenesis. miR-21 is a known oncogene with tumor-promoting effects in many types of cancer. In this study, we analyzed miR-21 in 121 cases of healthy kidney and different RCC subtypes, including clear cell (ccRCC), papillary (pRCC), chromophobe (chRCC), and oncocytoma. Total RNA was extracted, and the expression of miR-21 was measured with real-time quantitative RT-PCR using miR-21-specific probes. The expression of miR-21 was significantly up-regulated in RCC compared with healthy kidney. There was a significant difference in the expression levels between RCC subtypes, with the highest levels of expression in ccRCC and pRCC subtypes. miR-21 expression distinguished ccRCC and pRCC from chRCC and oncocytoma with 90% specificity (95% CI, 63.9% to 98.1%) and 83% sensitivity (95% CI, 53.5% to 97.6%). Significantly higher miR-21 levels were associated with higher stage and grade. Patients who were miR-21 positive had statistically significant shorter disease-free and overall survival rates. Thus, miR-21 is up-regulated in RCC, and its expression levels can be used as a diagnostic marker to distinguish ccRCC and pRCC from chRCC and oncocytoma. Moreover, it has potential as a prognostic marker in RCC, although it is not independent of tumor stage and grade. Copyright © 2012 American Society for Investigative Pathology and the Association for Molecular Pathology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."
}