Clinical significance of serum miR-768-3p in HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma and its potential mechanism

The purpose of this study was to reveal the clinical diagnostic and prognostic value of miR-768-3p in HBV-related HCC and to investigate its effect on the biological function of HCC. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the expression level of miR-768-3p in subjects’ serum. The receiver operating characteristics curve (ROC) evaluated the diagnostic value of miR-768-3p in patients. A Chi-square test was used to analyze the relationship between miR-768-3p and clinical data of patients. Kaplan–Meier survival and Cox regression analysis assessed the prognostic value of miR-768-3p in HCC. Finally, CCK-8 and Transwell assays were used to demonstrate the effect of miR-768-3p on HBV-related HCC function. Serum miR-768-3p was significantly lower in HCC patients than in healthy controls and chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. ROC curve suggested that serum miR-768-3p has an important diagnostic value for HBV-related HCC and can significantly differentiate HCC patients from healthy controls, and it can also diagnose HCC patients from CHB patients. Cox analysis confirmed that miR-768-3p was an independent risk factor. Low expression of miR-768-3p was associated with Tumor, Node, Metastasis stage, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage, and poor prognosis in HCC patients. Finally, cell function experiments confirmed that high expression of miR-768-3p could inhibit cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. All experiments confirmed that miR-768-3p can inhibit the proliferation, migration, and invasion of HBV-related HCC cells, and the low expression of miR-768-3p can be used as a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for HBV-related HCC.