Up-Regulation of Long Non-Coding RNA ZEB2-AS1 in Tissue is Correlated with Tumor Progression and Poor Prognosis in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract

Objective: ZEB2-AS1 has been suggested as an oncogene in some types of cancers, and it was also found to be up-regulated in NSCLC tissues compared with corresponding normal lung tissues. However, study on the clinical significance and prognostic value of ZEB2-AS1 in NSCLC is lacking. Patients and Methods: 129 NSCLC patients who underwent surgery between January 2013 to March 2018 were included in the present study. The Chi-square test was used to investigate the significance of tissue ZEB2-AS1 expression level as correlated with clinicopathologic features. The survival curves of the NSCLC patients were plotted and analyzed by Kaplan-Meier method and the survival rates were compared by the log-rank test. The Cox proportional hazards model was used for univariate and multivariate regression analyses. Results : ZEB2-AS1 level was significantly up-regulated in NSCLC tissues compared with matched adjacent lung tissues (P < 0 001). ZEB2-AS1 expression level was significantly correlated with tumor differentiation (P = 0 004), lymph node metastasis (P = 0 003), and TNM stage (P < 0 001). Both univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards model analysis showed that ZEB2-AS1 expression was independently associated with overall survival of patients with NSCLC (univariate analysis: HR = 2.117, 95% CI: 1.092–11.885, P = 0 019, multivariate analysis: HR = 1.925, 95% CI: 1.472–10.663, P = 0 036). Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that ZEB2-AS1 is up-regulated in NSCLC tissues and its up-regulation is correlated with tumor progression and poor prognosis in NSCLC.