Decreased expression of MicroRNA-200 family in human breast cancer is associated with lymph node metastasis

Objectives MicroRNA-200 family (miR-200f) has been consistently reported to be deregulated and modulate the metastatic process in multiple cancers. In the present study, we detected the expression of miR-200f in breast cancer (BC) tissue and explored its relationships with clinicopathological characteristics, especially with lymph node metastasis. Methods Expression levels of miR-200a, miR-200b, miR-200c, miR-141, and miR-429 in 99 pairs of BC tissues and adjacent normal tissues were measured by real-time quantitative PCR. The correlation between miR-200f level and multiple clinicopathological factors was then examined by Mann–Whitney test, ANOVA, and operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Results All members of the miR-200f were down-regulated in BC tissue compared with that in normal adjacent tissue; miR-200a, miR-200b, and miR-200c were highly decreased ( p