Long non‐coding RNA HOTAIR is an independent prognostic marker for nasopharyngeal carcinoma progression and survival

Abstract

Identification of new nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) biomarkers is of great clinical value for the diagnosis and treatment of NPC. HOTAIR, a cancer‐related long non‐coding RNA, was tested and its prognostic value for NPC was evaluated. As determined using in situ hybridization (ISH), 91 of 160 (56.87%) paraffin‐embedded NPC biopsies showed high expression levels of HOTAIR (staining index score ≥ 6). HOTAIR was upregulated in tumors with a large size (P = 0.021), more advanced clinical stage (P = 0.012) and increased lymph node tumor burden (P = 0.005). Quantified using real‐time PCR, HOTAIR expression levels in fresh tissue and paraffin‐embedded samples were 5.2 ~ 48.4‐fold higher compared with non‐cancer tissue samples. Moreover, HOTAIR expression levels increased with clinical stage progression, which was consistent with ISH findings in the paraffin‐embedded tissue. Most importantly, NPC patients with higher HOTAIR levels had a poor prognosis for overall survival using univariate and multivariate analysis. In addition, HOTAIR mediated the migration, invasion and proliferation of NPC cells in vitro. HOTAIR is a potential biomarker for the prognosis of NPC, and dysregulation of HOTAIR might play an important role in NPC progression.

Long noncoding RNA BLACAT2 promotes bladder cancer–associated lymphangiogenesis and lymphatic metastasis

“…BLACAT2 expression was also examined using ISH in FFPE samples, as previously described (61). Briefly, after dewaxing and rehydration, the samples were digested with 20 μg/ml proteinase K (Roche), fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde, hybridized with a double (5′ and 3′) digoxin-labeled (DIGlabeled) LNA-modified BLACAT2 probe (Exiqon) at 42°C overnight, and subsequently incubated overnight at 4°C with anti-DIG monoclonal antibody conjugated to alkaline phosphatase (Roche, catalog 11093274910).…”

Long non-coding RNA GAS5 inhibits cell proliferation, induces G0/G1 arrest and apoptosis, and functions as a prognostic marker in colorectal cancer

“…A number of lncRNAs serve important regulatory roles in chromosome modification (20), transcription in the nucleus and post-transcriptional processing in the cytoplasm (21). Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that lncRNA dysregulation affects epigenetic regulation and induces cell growth, resulting in progressive and uncontrolled tumor growth (8,20,(22)(23)(24)(25)(26). The lncRNA GAS5 is non-coding, hosts multiple small nucleolar (sno) RNA sequences in its introns and contains 12 exons (27,28).…”

HOTAIR: a cancer-related long non-coding RNA

“…HOTAIR expression levels were significantly associated with tumor size, clinical stage, lymph node and distant metastasis; and affected the overall survival and prognosis of cancer patients [82,83]. HOTAIR knockdown inhibited the invasion of Hep-2 cells, and induced the apoptosis of Hep-2 cells.…”