BackgroundMicroRNA-126(miR-126) has been shown to be frequently down-regulated in a variety of malignancies and act as a potential tumor suppressor. However, its correlations with the clinicopathological characters of cervical cancer remain unclear.MethodsTaqMan quantitative RT-PCR was used to determine the expression level of miR-126 in tissue samples. The associations of miR-126 expression with clinicopathologic variables were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed to analyze the association of miR-126 expression with overall survival (OS) of patients. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performedResultsmiR-126 expression level in human cervical cancer tissues was significantly lower than that in adjacent nontumorous tissues (mean¿±¿SD: 0.59¿±¿0.44 vs. 1.00¿±¿0.51, P¿<¿0.0001). Decreased miR-126 expression in cervical cancer was found to be significantly associated with lymphatic invasion (P¿=¿0.002), distant metastasis (P¿<¿0.001), FIGO stage (P¿=¿0.009), and histological grade (P¿=¿0.005). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that patients with lower levels of miR-126 had significantly poorer survival than those with higher expression of this miRNA in patients, with a 5-year OS of 45.7% and 70.9%, respectively (P¿=¿0.002). Multivariate analysis revealed that miR-126 expression (HR¿=¿3.97, 95% CI: 2.01-20.22; P¿=¿0.003) was independently associated with the OS.ConclusionOur data suggests the potential of miR-126 as a prognostic biomarker for cervical cancer.Virtual SlidesThe virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/13000_2014_220.