Overexpression of the Long Noncoding RNA HomeoboxA Transcript at the Distal Tip Predicts Poor Prognosis in a KRAS-Independent Manner in Periampullary Region Tumors

The impact of LncRNA dysregulation on clinicopathology and survival of pancreatic cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis (PRISMA compliant)

Purpose

An increasing number of studies have reported a significant association between long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) dysregulation and pancreatic cancers. In the present study, we aimed to gather articles to evaluate the prognostic value of long non coding RNA in pancreatic cancer.

Experimental design

We systematically searched all eligible articles from databases of PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus to meta-analysis of published articles and screen association of multiple lncRNAs expression with clinicopathology and/or survival of pancreatic cancer. The pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were used to analysis of overall survival, disease-free survival and progression-free survival were measured with a fixed or random effects model.

Results

A total of 39 articles were included in the present meta-analysis. Our results showed that dysregulation of lncRNAs were linked to overall survival (39 studies, 4736 patients HR = 0.41, 95% CI 0.25 ± 0.58, random-effects in pancreatic cancer. Moreover, altered lncRNAs were also contributed to progression-free survival (8 studies, 1180 patients HR: 1.88, 95% CI (1.35–2.62) and disease-free survival (2 studies, 285 patients, HR: 6.07, 95% CI 1.28–28.78). In addition, our findings revealed the association between dysregulated RNAs and clinicopathological features in this type of cancer.

Conclusions

In conclusion, dysregulated lncRNAs could be served as promising biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of pancreatic cancer.

Long Noncoding RNA HOTTIP Serves as an Independent Predictive Biomarker for the Prognosis of Patients with Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Several studies have indicated that HOXA transcript at the distal tip (HOTTIP) play important roles in the tumorigenesis and development of various cancers. We aim to investigate the expression and prognostic value of HOTTIP in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). A systematic review of PubMed, Embase, Medline, and Web of Science databases was performed to select eligible literatures relevant to the correlation between HOTTIP expression and clinical outcome of different cancers. The association between the HOTTIP level and overall survival (OS), lymph node metastasis (LNM), or clinical stage was subsequently analyzed. Survival analyses were performed in a large cohort of more than 500 patients with ccRCC from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) using bioinformatic methods. Seventeen studies with a total of 1594 patients with thirteen kinds of carcinomas were included in this analysis. The result showed that high HOTTIP expression could predict worse outcome in cancer patients, with the pooled hazard ratio (HR) of 2.34 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.96–2.79, p < 0.0001). The result also showed that elevated HOTTIP expression was correlated with more LNM (OR = 2.61, 95% CI 1.91-3.58, p < 0.0001) and advanced clinical stage (OR = 3.57, 95% CI 2.58-4.93, p < 0.0001). We further validated that ccRCC patients with higher HOTTIP expression tend to have unsatisfactory outcomes both in the entire TCGA dataset and different clinical stratums, like age, grade, and stage. The tumor of those patients was associated with a larger size, easier to metastasis, advanced clinical stage, and a higher pathological grade. These findings suggested that increased HOTTIP expression might act as a novel prognostic marker for ccRCC patients.

HOX cluster-embedded antisense long non-coding RNAs in lung cancer

Homeobox (HOX) genes play vital roles in embryonic development and oncogenesis. In humans, there are 39 HOX genes found in four clusters that are located on different chromosomes. The HOX clusters also contain numerous non-protein-coding RNAs, including some lncRNAs. The HOX cluster-embedded lncRNAs (HOX-lncRNAs), most notably, HOTTIP and HOTAIR play a major role in the regulation of their adjacent coding genes. Recently, most HOX-lncRNAs have been shown to impact tumorigenesis and cancer progression. Several HOX-lncRNAs, including HOTTIP, HOXA11-AS, HOTAIRM1, HOXA-AS3, HOXA10-AS, HOTAIR, and HAGLR, are dysregulated in lung cancer. Moreover, their expression levels are correlated with the clinical features of this disease. These HOX-lncRNAs regulate the proliferation, invasion, migration, and chemo-resistance of lung cancer cells through various molecular mechanisms. Although lncRNAs have received much attention lately, the functions of some HOX-lncRNAs in the development of cancer are unclear. Thus, HOX-embedded lncRNAs should be widely investigated in cancer. Here, we review the functions of HOX-lncRNAs in lung cancer.