Abstract
Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that microRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) play an important role in the diagnosis and prognosis of tumors. In the case of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), miRNAs may serve as potential tumor biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, fold change >2 was used to screen out miRNAs with differential expression in patients with CCA. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses identified miR-3913-5p as an independent prognostic factor in patients with CCA. Overall survival and progression-free survival of patients with CCA were analyzed based on clinical data from TCGA database. In addition, four datasets were combined to identify 21 possible target genes of miR-3913, and Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analyses were conducted to predict potential pathways and functions of the molecular target genes. Subsequently, the miRNAs associated with survival were selected to build the miRNA-mRNA expression network. Furthermore, the differential expression of miR-3913-5p in CCA cells and normal bile duct epithelial cells was confirmed through in vitro experiments. The possible target genes (RNF24 and SIGLEC) were further screened by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. In addition, functional experiments showed that miR-3913-5p might be an oncogene that affects the proliferation and migration of CCA cells by inhibiting and mimicking miR-3913-5p. Therefore, miR-3913 may serve as a biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of patients with CCA.