Objective  This study was conducted to detect circulating miR-6861-5p and evaluate its diagnositic value in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

  Methods  MiR-6861-5p expression was detected by RT-qPCR in 112 patients with breast cancer enrolled in the Second People Hospital of Dezhou from January 2012 to June 2015, with 37 patients diagnosed with benign breast lesions, and 53 healthy people. The relationship between circulating miR-6861-5p and clinicopathologic features and the postoperative recurrence of breast cancer was analyzed to explore the diagnostic value of circulating miR-6861-5p in patients with breast cancer.

  Results  Circulating miR-6861-5p expression was significantly higher in patients with breast cancer (7.99±1.63) than in patients with benign breast lesions (6.45±1.06) and healthy people (6.43±1.28) (p < 0.05). There was a significant correlation between circulating miR- 6861-5p and lymph node metastasis, estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, HER-2 expression, TNM staging, molecular typing, and histological staging in patients with breast cancer (p < 0.05). Circulating miR-6861-5p significantly decreased after tumor resection (p < 0.05) and was significantly correlated with the recurrence rates after treatment. The sensitivity and specificity of diagnosis in breast cancer by detecting circulating miR-6861-5p were 69.6% and 77.8%, respectively.

  Conclusions  There is high expression of circulating miR-6861-5p in breast cancer, which may serve as useful diagnostic, staging, cancer cell metastasis, and postoperative recurrence biomarker in patients with breast cancer.