Identification of miR-375 as a potential prognostic biomarker for esophageal squamous cell cancer: A bioinformatics analysis based on TCGA and meta-analysis

Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that aberrantly expressed miRNAs in cancer tissues regulated various cellular processes related to carcinogenesis. The present study aimed to identify the differentially expressed miRNAs between esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC) and adjacent normal esophageal tissue (ANET). In our present study, we identified 129 differentially expressed miRNAs between ESCC and ANET by analyzing high-throughput miRNA data downloaded from TCGA database. After investigating the prognostic value of the 129 differential expressed miRNAs, eight miRNAs were found to be associated with prognosis of patients with ESCC. The clinical significance and bio-function of miR-375 was further examined. We performed Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) to identify the top three gene sets that significantly altered between the patients with miR-375 low expression and high expression. In order to explore the mechanism of the development and progression of ESCC, the role of miR-375 in ESCC and its four candidate target genes was examined. At last, we performed a meta-analysis to verify the prognostic value of miR-375 in ESCC. In conclusion, our findings suggest that miR-375 serves as a promising independent prognostic factor for ESCC and function as a tumor suppressor.