Identification and functional characterization of long non-coding RNAs in human gastric cancer

Abstract

Abstract. Abnormal regulation of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) appears to be a primary feature of numerous types of human cancer. However, the association between the dysregulation of lncRNAs and functional alterations in gastric cancer (GC) remains unclear. In previous studies, we applied microarray and bioinformatics analyses to screen for key lncRNAs from the tumor tissues and matched adjacent non-tumor tissues of 10 patients with GC. There were seven key lncRNAs demonstrated to be significantly different between carcinoma tissues and adjacent non-tumor tissues. In the present study, the expression of these seven selected lncRNAs were validated in 82 patients with GC to further investigate the association between lncRNAs and GC clinical characterization. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) results demonstrated that RP5-919F19, MCPH1 antisense RNA 1 (CTD-2541M15) and urothelial carcinoma-associated 1 (UCA1) exhibited consistent upregulation in cancer compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues, whereas AP000459, LOC101928316, tumor suppressor candidate 8 (LINC01071) and maternally expressed 3 (MEG3) showed consistent downregulation. The results from the microarray and RT-qPCR experiments achieved 100% agreement. A correlation analysis indicated that RP5-919F19, LOC101928316 and MEG3 were significantly associated with tumor differentiation degree, RP5-919F19, UCA1 and MEG3 were significantly associated with lymph node metastasis, and RP5-919F19, CTD-2541M15 and UCA1 were significantly associated with tumor-node-metastasis stage (P<0.05). In addition, it was identified that the differential expression of LINC01071 and LOC101928316 significantly correlated with the age and gender of the GC patients, respectively (P<0.05). The results suggest that the lncRNAs RP5-919F19, LOC101928316, CTD-2541M15, UCA1 and MEG3 are closely associated with the invasion and metastasis of GC, which reveals these indicators as potential specificity biomarkers for the diagnosis, prognosis and classification of GC. Thus, these lncRNAs merit further study as novel candidate biomarkers for the clinical diagnosis of GC and as potential targets for therapy. IntroductionGastric cancer (GC) is one of the most lethal types of cancer and has been increasing in incidence and mortality over the last several decades. In China, it has been estimated that ~464,000 new cases were diagnosed in 2012, which accounts for over 40% of the total cases (~989,600) worldwide (1). According to evidence from clinical studies, the majority of patients with GC are diagnosed at an advanced stage and are thus not suitable for radical surgery (2). Previous studies have also reported that earlier diagnosis and treatment of GC could produce a 5-year survival rate of >90% (3).Recent developments in the field of digestive system endoscopy have been remarkable due to their association with decreased trauma, accelerated recovery and fewer complications (4,5). However, endoscopic biopsy and observation of pathological morphology are unable t...

Long non-coding RNA TUSC8 inhibits breast cancer growth and metastasis via miR-190b-5p/MYLIP axis

“…Down-regulation of XLOC_010588 inhibited the invasion and migration of colorectal cancer cells through regulating genes associated with EMT [14]. Furthermore, TUSC8 (LINC01071) showed consistent down-regulation in gastric cancer (GC) compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues and was significantly correlated with the age and gender of the GC patients, respectively [15,16]. However, apart from the above studies, the biological functions and underlying molecular mechanisms of TUSC8 with respect to breast cancer remain largely unclear.…”

The emerging role of MCPH1/BRIT1 in carcinogenesis

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