Abstract: Objective To determine the expressions of miR- 200a, miR-141, miR-205 and miR-34a in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) samples and to explore their clinical significance. Methods According to FIGO staging, 44 EOC pa⁃ tients were divided into two groups: early FIGO stage (stage Ⅰ-Ⅱ, n=15) and late FIGO stage (stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ, n=29). Expres⁃ sions of 4 miRNAs were detected by real time quantitative PCR, and were compared between two groups. The correlation of 4 miRNAs was calculated. EOC patients were divided into high miRNA expression group and low expression group according to the median value of miRNAs expression. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox multivariate analysis were used to com⁃ pare the age, FIGO state, tumor residual after operation and post-operative chemotherapy of ovarian cancer between two groups. Results The expression of miR-141 was elevated in stages Ⅲand Ⅳ compared with that of stagesⅠand Ⅱ(P = 0.036). There was a positive correlation between expression of miR-141, miR-200a and miR-205, but a negative correlation with miR-34a (P< 0.05). There was a positive correlation between miR-200a and miR-205 (P < 0.05). Lower miR-200a ex⁃ pression was associated with shorter progress free survival in ovarian cancer analyzed by log-rank test (P = 0.035). The sur⁃ vival rate was significantly higher in FIGO stages Ⅰ and Ⅱ than that of FIGO stages Ⅲ and Ⅳ(P < 0.05). Cox regression analysis revealed that miR-200a, FIGO stage and age were influential factors of overall survival time and progress-free sur⁃ vival time of ovarian cancer, while miR-141, miR-205, miR-34a and tumor residual after operation and post-operative che⁃ motherapy were not influential factors. Conclusion The expression of miR-200a is closely correlated with the progress and prognosis of ovarian cancer and may be used as an independent indicator for ovarian cancer prognosis.

Key words: microRNAs, ovarian neoplasms, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, epithelial, miR- 200a, miR- 141, miR-205, miR-34a