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The brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a certain type of growth factor that participates in the correct construction of the brain. Moreover, some reports have shown its participation in the tumorigenesis process. A long noncoding RNA known as BDNF‐antisense (BDNF‐AS) is shown to be transcribed from the antisense direction of the BDNF gene and control its expression. In the current study, we compared expression levels of BDNF and its antisense in gastric cancer tissues and adjacent noncancerous tissues (ANCTs) using quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction. Expression of both genes tended to decrease in gastric cancer tissues in comparison with ANCTs (expression ratio = 0.4 and P = .06 for BDNF; expression ratio = 0.35 and P = .05 for BDNF‐AS, respectively). Relative transcript levels of both genes were remarkably associated with the site of primary tumor in a way that all cardia tumors had low levels of both BDNF and BDNF‐AS in comparison with their paired ANCTs (P = .002 and P = <.001). We also found higher amounts of both genes in malignant samples obtained from older patients (P = .01 and P = .03 for BDNF and BDNF‐AS, respectively). Besides, BDNF expression was higher in tumors with lymphatic/vascular invasion (P = .01). There was also a trend toward upregulation of BDNF‐AS in tumors with lymphatic/vascular invasion (P = .05). The current study underscores the role of BDNF and BDNF‐AS in the pathogenic process leading to gastric cancer.

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AimNicotinamide Nucleotide Transhydrogenase (NNT) gene encodes a protein, which is an important antioxidative enzyme that converts NADH to NADPH. This enzyme provides a significant proportion of the entire NADPH resource in the mitochondria. Previous reports have shown possible contribution of this gene in the carcinogenesis process.MethodsIn the current research, we evaluated expression levels of NNT gene and a naturally occurring antisense RNA (NNT‐AS1) in gastric cancer specimens compared to their corresponding adjacent noncancerous tissues (ANCTs).ResultsBoth NNT1 and NNT‐AS1 genes were significantly downregulated in tumor tissues compared to ANCTs (expression ratio = 0.369, p = .045 and expression ratio = 0.368, p = .043, respectively). Transcript levels of NNT1 and NNT‐AS1 were associated with the location of the primary tumor (p = .003 and .002, respectively). Moreover, expressions of both genes were significantly elevated in tumors with lymphatic/vascular invasion compared to tumors without lymphatic/vascular invasion (p = .001 and p = .005). No other remarkable associations were noticed between transcript levels of genes in tumor tissues and patients’ information. Based on the area under curve (AUC) values in the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, the diagnostic power of NNT1 and NNT‐AS1 were estimated to be 0.62 and 0.63, respectively.ConclusionsAlthough we demonstrated dysregulation of NNT1 and NNT‐AS1 in gastric tumor specimens in association with clinical data of patients, these two genes are not supposed to be appropriate biomarkers for gastric cancer.

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