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Upregulation of the long noncoding RNA PCAT-1 correlates with advanced clinical stage and poor prognosis in esophageal squamous carcinoma

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Tumor Biology

Abstract

Recent studies reveal that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play critical regulatory roles in cancer biology. Prostate cancer-associated ncRNA transcript 1 (PCAT-1) is one of the lncRNAs involved in cell apoptosis and proliferation of prostate cancer. This study aimed to assess the potential role of PCAT-1 specifically in the pathogenesis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression level of PCAT-1 in matched cancerous tissues and adjacent noncancerous tissues from 130 patients with ESCC, 34 patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and 30 patients with gastric carcinoma (GC). The correlation of PCAT-1 with clinicopathological features and prognosis were also analyzed. The expression of PCAT-1 was significantly higher in human ESCC compared with the adjacent noncancerous tissues (70.8 %, p < 0.01), and the high level of PCAT-1 expression was significantly correlated with invasion of the tumor (p = 0.024), advanced clinical stage (p = 0.003), lymph node metastasis (p = 0.032), and poor prognosis. However, PCAT-1 mRNA expression had no significant difference between paired primary cancerous tissues and the adjacent noncancerous tissues in 34 cases of NSCLC (p = 0.293) and 30 cases of GC (p = 0.125). High expression of PCAT-1 was specifically correlated with invasion of cancer tissues, metastasis of lymph node, and advanced tumor stage of ESCC. High expression of PCAT-1 might reflect poor prognosis of ESCC and indicate a potential diagnostic target in ESCC patients. Adjuvant therapy targeting PCAT-1 molecule might be effective in treatment of ESCC.

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Acknowledgments

The project described was supported by the Tenth Batch Project of Six Leading Talents from Jiangsu Province in 2013 (WSN-084), the Foundation of Science and Technology Development for Nanjing City (Grant No. Ykk12087), and the Science and Technology Project on Clinical Medicine of Nanjing City (Grant No. BL2014011).

Conflicts of interest

None

Authors’ contributions

SWH, LSQ, WQQ, and CXF participated in the conception, design, and experiments of the study. YTX, LZH, TYS, and TR provided study materials and patients. SWH performed the data analysis and interpretation. SWH and WS wrote the manuscript. CXF and WS approved the final version. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgical Oncology, Affiliated Nanjing Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210006, Jiangsu, China

    Wei-hong Shi, Su-qing Li, Tong-xin Yang, Zi-hao Liu, Yu-suo Tong, Lei Tuo & Xiu-Feng Cao

  2. Department of Medical Technology, Yancheng Health Vocational and Technical College, Yancheng, Jiangsu, China

    Wei-hong Shi

  3. Yancheng Second Hospital, Yancheng, Jiangsu, China

    Shan Wang

  4. Huaian First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Huaian, Jiangsu, China

    Qing-quan Wu

  5. Department of Surgical Oncology, Yancheng Second Hospital, Yancheng, 224003, Jiangsu, China

    Shan Wang

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  1. Wei-hong Shi
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  2. Qing-quan Wu
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  8. Shan Wang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Shan Wang or Xiu-Feng Cao.

Additional information

Wei-hong Shi and Qing-quan Wu contributed equally to this work.

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Shi, Wh., Wu, Qq., Li, Sq. et al. Upregulation of the long noncoding RNA PCAT-1 correlates with advanced clinical stage and poor prognosis in esophageal squamous carcinoma. Tumor Biol. 36, 2501–2507 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-014-2863-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-014-2863-3

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