Up-regulation of long noncoding RNA uc.338 predicts poor survival in non-small cell lung cancer

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Tian, Yu | Feng, Yun^*

Affiliations: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan 250000, Shandong, China

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Yun Feng, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan 250000, Shandong, China. Tel./Fax: +86 0531 86921941; E-mail: ty91671@yeah.net.

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Long noncoding RNA ultraconserved element 338 (uc.338) is a long non-coding RNA reported to function as a promoter in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the function and potential mechanism of uc.338 in NSCLC is still unclear. OBJECTIVE:The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of uc.338 on the prognosis of patients with NSCLC. METHODS: The expression levels of uc.338 in NSCLC tissues and matched normal lung tissues were examined by real-time quantitative PCR. Then the association between uc.338 levels with clinical variables as well as survival time was investigated. RESULTS: We found that uc.338 expression levels were significantly upregulated in NSCLC compared with the matched noncancerous lung tissues (P< 0.01). In addition, increased uc.338 expression was significantly associated with TNM stage (P< 0.003), lymph node metastasis (P< 0.006) and distant metastasis (P< 0.002). More importantly, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrated that higher uc.338 expression levels were associated with a shorter overall survival (P< 0.0016) and disease-free survival (p< 0.0001) in NSCLC patients. Finally, univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses revealed that uc.338 was an independent risk factor for overall survival and disease-free survival. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that uc.338 may play an important role in tumorigenesis and progression and could serve as a potential independent prognostic biomarker for patients with NSCLC.

Keywords: Long noncoding RNA, ultraconserved element 338, prognosis

DOI: 10.3233/CBM-181331

Journal: Cancer Biomarkers, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 781-785, 2018