Genetic variation of lncRNA GAS5 contributes to the development of lung cancer

Exploring GAS5's impact on prostate cancer: Recent discoveries and emerging paradigms

Novel treatment targets must be discovered to improve the results for patients with prostate cancer, which continues to be a significant worldwide health problem. Growth Arrest-Specific 5 (GAS5) is a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) that has emerged as a promising target. GAS5 is a non-coding RNA that is a tumour suppressor in many different cancers by reducing cell proliferation and increasing apoptosis. GAS5 influences cell cycle control and apoptosis via interactions with important signalling pathways and microRNAs, as has been shown by recent studies. Furthermore, GAS5 has attracted interest for its diagnostic and prognostic potential in prostate cancer. GAS5 expression is a promising biomarker for disease classification and individualized treatment approaches because of its association with clinicopathological characteristics such as tumour stage, Gleason score, and metastatic potential. Preclinical models have revealed encouraging anticancer benefits from experimental techniques employing GAS5 overexpression or synthetic analogues, indicating the possibility of translational treatments. Whether GAS5 can be used as a diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target might lead to more effective and individualized ways to fight prostate cancer, improving patient outcomes and quality of life. To utilize its potential for therapy and establish it as a useful addition to the clinical arsenal against this pervasive malignancy, more investigation into the complex molecular pathways of GAS5 in prostate cancer is essential. This review highlights the recent advancements and insights into the role of GAS5 in prostate cancer pathogenesis and progression.

Impact of LncRNA GAS5 Genetic Variants and the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Phenotypes on the Clinicopathological Characteristics of Lung Adenocarcinoma Patients

The aim of the current study was to evaluate the combined effect of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in long non-coding RNA growth arrest-specific 5 (GAS5) and the phenotypes of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) on the clinicopathological characteristics of lung adenocarcinoma. The present study examined the relationship between the GAS5 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs; rs145204276 Ins/Del, rs55829688 T/C) and the clinicopathological factors in 539 lung adenocarcinoma patients with or without EGFR mutations. We found that the genotype distributions of the two GAS5 SNPs between different EGFR genotypes were similar after adjusting for age, gender and smoking history. The GAS5 SNP rs145204276 Ins/Del + Del/Del illustrated a higher distribution with an advanced tumor stage (p = 0.030), larger tumor T status (p = 0.019), positive lymph node status (p = 0.014) and distal metastases (p = 0.011) in the EGFR wild type group. In the subgroup analysis of the EGFR wild type population, the presence of GAS5 SNP rs145204276 Ins/Del + Del/Del was correlated to an advanced tumor stage (p = 0.014) and distal metastases (p = 0.020) in non-smokers. In conclusion, these data indicate that the GAS5 SNP rs145204276 variant may help predict tumor stage, lymph node metastasis and distal metastases in patients with EGFR wild type lung adenocarcinoma.

LDA-LNSUBRW: lncRNA-Disease Association Prediction Based on Linear Neighborhood Similarity and Unbalanced bi-Random Walk

Increasing number of experiments show that lncRNAs are involved in many biological processes, and their mutations and disorders are associated with many diseases. However, verifying the relationships between lncRNAs and diseases is time consuming and laborio. Searching for effective computational methods will contribute to our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of disease and identifying biomarkers of diseases. Therefore, we proposed a method called lncRNA-disease association prediction based on linear neighborhood similarity and unbalanced bi-random walk (LDA-LNSUBRW). Given that the known lncRNA-disease associations are rare, a pretreatment step should be performed to obtain the interaction possibility of unknown cases, so as to help us predict the potential associations. In the framework of leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV)and fivefold cross-validation (5-fold CV), LDA-LNSUBRW achieved effective performance with AUC of 0.8874 and 0.8632 ± 0.0051, respectively. The experimental results in this paper show that the proposed method is superior to five other state-of-the-art methods. In addition, case studies of three diseases (lung cancer, breast cancer, and osteosarcoma)were carried out to illustrate that LDA-LNSUBRW could predict the relevant lncRNAs.

Growth arrest-specific 5 (GAS5) insertion/deletion polymorphism and cancer susceptibility in Asian populations: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have reported the association of an insertion/deletion (Ins/Del) polymorphism (rs145204276 AGGCA/-) in the promoter region of growth arrest-specific 5 (GAS5) with the risk of cancer, such as breast cancer, gastric cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the results are still controversial. We aimed to clarify the association of GAS5 rs145204276 polymorphism with cancer risk by meta-analysis.

METHODS

PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and Cochrane Library were searched for studies concerning GAS5 and cancer published up to November 25, 2019. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to evaluate cancer risk.

RESULTS

A total of 12 case-control studies with 8729 cases and 10,807 controls were included in this meta-analysis. We found that the GAS5 rs145204276 polymorphism was not significantly associated with cancer risk (Del vs Ins: OR = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.81-1.13; Del/Del vs Ins/Ins: OR = 1.00, 95% CI: 0.70-1.43; Ins/Del vs Ins/Ins: OR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.78-1.08; Ins/Del and Del/Del vs Ins/Ins: OR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.76-1.13; Del/Del vs Ins/Del and Ins/Ins: OR = 1.04, 95% CI: 0.78-1.38). In the stratified analyses, significant effects on gastric cancer were found (Del vs Ins: OR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.72-0.86; Del/Del vs Ins/Ins: OR = 0.65, 95% CI: 0.52-0.82; Ins/Del vs Ins/Ins: OR = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.68-0.86; Ins/Del + Del/Del vs Ins/Ins: OR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.66-0.83; Del/Del vs Ins/Ins + Ins/Del: OR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.59-0.91).

CONCLUSION

Our meta-analysis showed that GAS5 rs145204276 polymorphisms were not related to overall cancer risk. However, the GAS5 rs145204276 polymorphism may be a protective factor for gastric cancer in the stratification analyses.

Association between long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) GAS5 polymorphism rs145204276 and cancer risk

OBJECTIVE

The long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) growth arrest‑specific transcript 5 (GAS5) plays an important role in various tumors, and an increasing number of studies have explored the association of the GAS5 rs145204276 polymorphism with cancer risk with inconclusive results.

METHODS

PubMed, Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane databases, and Web of Science were searched, and nine studies involving 6107 cases and 7909 controls were deemed eligible. Odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to evaluate the relationship between rs145204276 and cancer risk in six genetic models.

RESULTS

The pooled results suggest that the variant allele del was not associated with overall cancer risk. However, the subgroup analysis showed that allele del was significantly associated with a 22% decreased risk of gastrointestinal cancer (OR = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.72-0.85). Both sensitivity analyses and trial sequential analyses (TSA) demonstrated that the subgroup results were reliable and robust. Moreover, False-Positive Report Probability (FPRP) analysis indicated that the results had true significant correlations.

CONCLUSION

These findings provide evidence that the GAS5 rs145204276 polymorphism is associated with the susceptibility to gastrointestinal cancer. Further studies with different ethnicities and larger sample sizes are warranted to confirm these results.

Dysregulation of lncRNA in Helicobacter pylori-Infected Gastric Cancer Cells

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is the most common cause of gastric cancer (GC). This microorganism is genetically diverse; GC is caused by several genetic deregulations in addition to environmental factors and bacterial virulence factors. lncRNAs (long noncoding RNAs) are significant biological macromolecules in GC, have specific functions in diseases, and could be therapeutic targets. Altered lncRNAs can lead to the abnormal expression of adjacent protein-coding genes, which may be important in cancer development. Their mechanisms have not been well understood, so we are going to investigate the risk of GC in a population with both high lncRNA and H. pylori infection.

RWSF-BLP: a novel lncRNA-disease association prediction model using random walk-based multi-similarity fusion and bidirectional label propagation

An increasing number of studies and experiments have demonstrated that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have a massive impact on various biological processes. Predicting potential associations between lncRNAs and diseases not only can improve our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of human diseases but also can facilitate the identification of biomarkers for disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. However, identifying such associations through experiments is costly and demanding, thereby prompting researchers to develop computational methods to complement these experiments. In this paper, we constructed a novel model called RWSF-BLP (a novel lncRNA-disease association prediction model using Random Walk-based multi-Similarity Fusion and Bidirectional Label Propagation), which applies an efficient random walk-based multi-similarity fusion (RWSF) method to fuse different similarity matrices and utilizes bidirectional label propagation to predict potential lncRNA-disease associations. Leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) and 5-fold cross-validation (5-fold-CV) were implemented in the evaluation RWSF-BLP performance. Results showed that, RWSF-BLP has reliable AUCs of 0.9086 and 0.9115 ± 0.0044 under the framework of LOOCV and 5-fold-CV and outperformed other four canonical methods. Case studies on lung cancer and leukemia demonstrated that potential lncRNA-disease associations can be predicted through our method. Therefore, our method can accurately infer potential lncRNA-disease associations and may be a good choice in future biomedical research.

Influence of a 5-bp Indel Polymorphism at Promoter of the GAS5 lncRNA and Risk of Breast Cancer

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are RNA molecules (>200 nucleotides in length) with no protein-coding capacity. Recent studies have demonstrated that lncRNAs involve in the regulation of their target genes at transcriptional, post-transcriptional and epigenetic levels. The aim of this case-control study was to explore whether growth arrest-specific 5 (GAS5) lncRNA 5-bp Ins/Del (rs145204276) polymorphism is involved in the breast cancer susceptibility. A total of 170 cases and 220 age matched controls were recruited in this study. GAS5 lncRNA polymorphism was genotyped using tetra primers amplification refractory mutation system polymerase chain reaction (T-ARMS-PCR) method. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS. The distribution of the genotype ins/ins, ins/del and del/del were %75.29, 21.76% and 2.94% and 52.27%, 39.55% and 8.81% in the cases and controls, respectively. The ins/del or del/del genotype had a significantly decreased risk of breast cancer as compared with the ins/ins genotype under a codominant model (OR=0.38, 95%CI 0.24-0.60, p=0.0001; OR= 0.25, 95%CI 0.09-0.69, p=0.008, respectively). Moreover, the deletion allele of this polymorphic site is associated with a protective effect (OR=0.41, 95%CI 0.28-0.60, p=0.0001). Our study provided the first evidence that the deletion allele of GAS5 rs145204276 may have a protective role in mediating individual susceptibility to breast cancer. However, further comprehensive studies are warranted in a larger sample.

LncRNA growth arrest-special 5 polymorphisms and predisposition to cancer: A meta-analysis

AIM

The lncRNA growth arrest-special 5 (GAS5) is a critical tumor suppressor lncRNA, and its expression level has been found to be decreased in many types of cancers. So GAS5 polymorphisms are also likely to influence predisposition to many types of malignant diseases. Nevertheless, the relationships between GAS5 polymorphisms and cancer are still controversial. Thus, the authors designed this meta-analysis to get a more statistically reliable conclusion.

METHODS

The authors searched PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science for eligible studies. A total of 12 eligible studies involving 8693 cancer cases and 10,805 controls were pooled and analyzed in this meta-analysis.

RESULTS

Among GAS5 polymorphisms, only GAS5 rs145204276 insertion/deletion polymorphism could be analyzed in a meta-analysis with regard to predisposition to cancer since no any other GAS5 polymorphisms were explored by at least two individual genetic association studies. All eligible studies were found to be of Asian origin. Although the overall pooled meta-analysis results did not show any significant associations between rs145204276 insertion/deletion polymorphism and a predisposition to cancer, rs145204276 insertion/deletion polymorphism was demonstrated to be significantly associated with a predisposition to gastric cancer (dominant comparison: P<0.0001; recessive comparison: P=0.005; over-dominant comparison: P=0.0003; over-dominant comparison: P<0.0001) in Asians in further subgroup analyses.

CONCLUSIONS

This meta-analysis demonstrated that GAS5 rs145204276 insertion/deletion polymorphism was associated with a predisposition to gastric cancer in Asians. Nevertheless, considering that this positive finding was only based on three eligible studies from the same area, future studies with larger sample sizes in other populations are still warranted to test the robustness of our findings.

Role of Long Non-coding RNAs in Reprogramming to Induced Pluripotency

The generation of induced pluripotent stem cells through somatic cell reprogramming requires a global reorganization of cellular functions. This reorganization occurs in a multi-phased manner and involves a gradual revision of both the epigenome and transcriptome. Recent studies have shown that the large-scale transcriptional changes observed during reprogramming also apply to long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), a type of traditionally neglected RNA species that are increasingly viewed as critical regulators of cellular function. Deeper understanding of lncRNAs in reprogramming may not only help to improve this process but also have implications for studying cell plasticity in other contexts, such as development, aging, and cancer. In this review, we summarize the current progress made in profiling and analyzing the role of lncRNAs in various phases of somatic cell reprogramming, with emphasis on the re-establishment of the pluripotency gene network and X chromosome reactivation.

Association between lncRNA GAS5, MEG3, and PCAT-1 Polymorphisms and Cancer Risk: A Meta-Analysis

Purpose

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been widely studied, and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in lncRNAs are considered to be genetic factors that influence cancer susceptibility. The lncRNA GAS5, MEG3, and PCAT-1 polymorphisms are shown to be possibly associated with cancer risk. The aim of this meta-analysis was to systematically evaluate this association.

Methods

Studies were selected from PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM) through inclusion and exclusion criteria. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using the random-effects model or fixed-effects model to assess the association between lncRNA polymorphisms and cancer susceptibility. Metaregression and publication bias analyses were also conducted. All analyses were performed using the Stata 12.0 software.

Results

Sixteen articles (covering 13750 cases and 17194 controls) were included in this meta-analysis. A significant association between SNP rs145204276 and gastric cancer risk was observed (del vs. ins: OR = 0.79, 95%CI = 0.72-0.86; del/del vs. ins/ins+del/ins: OR = 0.74, 95%CI = 0.59-0.91; del/ins vs. ins/ins: OR = 0.84, 95%CI = 0.67-1.05). For rs16901904, a decreased cancer risk was observed in three genetic models (C vs. T: OR = 0.79, 95%CI = 0.70-0.90; CC vs. CT+TT: OR = 0.49, 95%CI = 0.37-0.65; CC vs. TT: OR = 0.49, 95%CI = 0.37-0.66). No statistical significance was found in the metaregression analysis. For all of the included SNPs, no publication bias was found in all genotype models.

Conclusions

The rs145204276 SNP in lncRNA GAS5 is likely to be associated with gastric cancer risk, whereas the rs16901904 SNP in lncRNA PCAT-1 bears association with a decreased cancer risk.

Long non‑coding RNA GAS5 increases the radiosensitivity of A549 cells through interaction with the miR‑21/PTEN/Akt axis

Radioresistance hinders the therapeutic outcomes of radiotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Although long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been demonstrated to participate in the regulation of multiple cell behaviors, whether they can modulate the radiosensitivity of NSCLC and the underlying molecular mechanisms have not been well investigated. In the present study, it was revealed that NSCLC NCI-H460 cells were more sensitive to ionizing radiation (IR) than A549 cells. Using the RNA-Seq method, four highly differentially expressed lncRNAs were identified, including the growth arrest-specific transcript 5 (GAS5), syntaxin binding protein 5 antisense RNA 1 (STXBP5-AS1), metastasis associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) and X-inactive specific transcript (XIST), which were predicted to play roles in the acquisition of radiosensitivity. Using real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR), it was demonstrated that lncRNA GAS5 was significantly upregulated in NCI-H460 cells but not in A549 cells during IR. Mechanistically, it was demonstrated that overexpression of lncRNA GAS5 decreased the level of microRNA-21 (miR-21). Overexpression of lncRNA GAS5 or suppression of miR-21 markedly increased the IR-induced cell apoptosis of A549 cells. It was also demonstrated that overexpression of lncRNA GAS5 increased PTEN expression and suppressed Akt phosphorylation through the modulation of miR-21. Notably, it was revealed that IR enhanced the interaction between lncRNA GAS5 and the miR-21/PTEN/Akt axis. In summary, the present findings revealed that lncRNA GAS5 has a radiosensitization effect on NSCLC, indicating the potential application of lncRNA GAS5 in NSCLC radiotherapy.

Decreased H19, GAS5, and linc0597 Expression and Association Analysis of Related Gene Polymorphisms in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) widely participate in human diseases by regulating gene transcription, modulating protein function, or acting as ceRNAs. Yet, their roles in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remain obscure. In this study, the expression of three lncRNAs (H19, GAS5, and linc0597) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were detected in 77 RA patients and 78 controls using quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The association of lncRNAs related gene polymorphisms with RA were evaluated in 828 RA patients and 780 controls using TaqMan single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping assays. We observed that the expression levels of H19, GAS5 and linc0597 were down-regulated in PBMCs of RA patients, of which GAS5 level decreased in patients with hypocomplementemia, and negatively correlated with C-reactive protein (CRP) level in RA patients. Moreover, we highlighted two related potential functional SNPs, GAS5 rs6790 and linc0597 rs2680700 for associations with RA susceptibility. The precise roles of these lncRNAs in mechanism of RA remain to be further explored.

Novel Tumor Suppressor lncRNA Growth Arrest-Specific 5 (GAS5) In Human Cancer

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play crucial regulatory roles in fundamental biological processes, and deregulations of lncRNAs have been linked to numerous human diseases, especially cancers. Of particular interest in this regard is lncRNA GAS5, which is mainly identified as a tumor suppressor in several cancers. GAS5 was significantly low expressed in multiple cancers and was associated with clinic-pathological characteristics and patient survival, indicating a novel potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker, and a therapeutic target for cancer. Functionally, GAS5 is involved in cell proliferation, metastasis, invasion, apoptosis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and drug resistance, among others, via multiple molecular mechanisms, such as binding to DNA sequences, forming RNA-DNA triplex complex, triggering or suppressing the expression of genes, binding proteins to form chromatin-modifying complex, which activates or represses gene expression, and acting as miRNA sponge to suppress miRNA expression, leading to regulation of miRNA target genes. This review provides an overview of the current state of knowledge and role of GAS5 in clinical relevance, biological functions and molecular mechanisms underlying the dysregulation of expression and function of GAS5 in cancer. Finally, the potential prospective role as diagnostic and prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target in cancer is discussed.

A Single Nucleotide Polymorphism in GAS5 lncRNA is Associated with Risk of Bladder Cancer in Iranian Population

Down-regulation of the long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) growth arrest-specific 5 (GAS5) has a pathogenic role in bladder cancer. Moreover, genomic variants of this lncRNA have been associated with risk of diverse cancers. In the present project, we genotyped two putative functional SNPs (rs2067079 and rs6790) in 122 bladder cancer patients and 150 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects. The rs2067079 was associated risk of bladder cancer in recessive inheritance model (TT vs.CC + CT: OR (95% Confidence interval (CI)) = 2.67 (1.27-5.62), adjusted P value = 0.02). The T G haplotype (rs2067079 and rs6790) increased the risk of bladder cancer in the assessed population (OR (95% CI) = 1.73 (1.18-2.56), adjusted P value = 0.02). Consequently, in the current project we introduced a novel risk locus for bladder cancer in Iranian population.

Expression Pattern of Long Non-coding RNA Growth Arrest-specific 5 in the Remission Induction Therapy in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Background

Long non-coding RNA growth arrest-specific 5 (GAS5) is deregulated in many cancers because of its role in cell growth arrest and apoptosis. Additionally, GAS5 interacts with glucocorticoid receptor, making it a potential pharmacotranscription marker of glucocorticoid (GC) therapy. In this study, we aimed at analysing GAS5 expression in the remission induction therapy phase of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), in which GCs are mandatorily used, and to correlate it with therapy response.

Methods

GAS5 expression was measured in peripheral blood mononuclear cells taken from 29 childhood ALL patients at diagnosis, on day 15 and day 33 of remission induction therapy using RT-qPCR methodology.

Results

Our results have shown interindividual differences in GAS5 expression at all time points. For each ALL patient, GAS5 expression was higher on day 15 in comparison to its level at diagnosis (p<0.0005). On day 33, the level of GAS5 expression decreased in comparison with day 15 (p<0.0005), but it was still significantly higher than at diagnosis for the majority of patients (p=0.001). Patients whose number of blasts on day 8 was below 100 per μL of peripheral blood had a higher GAS5 expression at diagnosis (p=0.016), and lower ratio day 15/diagnosis (p=0.009).

Conclusions

Our results suggest that the expression level of GAS5 could be a potential marker of therapy response in remission induction therapy of childhood ALL.

Expression of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) has been dysregulated in non-small cell lung cancer tissues

Background

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as the most frequent type of lung cancer is associated with extensive mortality. Researchers have studied the suitability of several molecules as biomarkers for early detection of this cancer. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) as the main regulators of gene expression have also been assessed in this regard.

Methods

In the present study, we compared expression level of Fas-antisense 1 (FAS-AS1), Growth Arrest Specific 5 (GAS5), PVT1, Nuclear Paraspeckle Assembly Transcript 1 (NEAT1), HOXA transcript antisense RNA myeloid-specific 1 (HOTAIRM1), taurine upregulated gene 1 (TUG1) and TNFα and hnRNPL related immunoregulatory LincRNA (THRIL) in 32 NSCLC samples and their corresponding adjacent non-cancerous tissues (ANCTs).

Results

NEAT1 has been significantly over-expressed in NSCLC tissues obtained from male subjects compared with the corresponding ANCTs (Relative expression (REx) = 3.022, P = 0.019) but not in female subjects (P = 0.975). FAS-AS1 was significantly down-regulated in NSCLC tissues obtained from both males and females subjects compared with the corresponding ANCTs (REx = − 4.12 and − 3.14, P = 0.015 and 0.033 respectively). TUG1, GAS5, THRIL and HOTAIRM1 were significantly down-regulated in tumoral tissues obtained from male subjects compared with the corresponding ANCTs.

Conclusions

The observed dysregulation of these lncRNAs in NSCLC tissues compared with the corresponding ANCTs warrants future studies to confirm the results of the current study in larger sample sizes to elaborate their role as cancer biomarkers.

Growth arrest specific transcript 5 in tumorigenesis process: An update on the expression pattern and genomic variants

Growth arrest-specific 5 (GAS5) is a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) with diverse functions in regulation of gene expression. Most studies have reported a role for this lncRNA in induction of cell apoptosis and suppression of tumorigenesis process. Although few studies demonstrated up-regulation of this lncRNA in tumor tissues compared to non-tumor tissues of the same origin, the results of in vitro functional studies mostly support the tumor suppressor role for GAS5. A number of recent studies have also shown associations between genomic variants of this gene and risk of cancer in some populations. The role of this lncRNA in modulation of response to anti-cancer regimens has been verified through both in vitro and clinical studies. Taken together, this lncRNA is a putative biomarker and therapeutic target in human malignancies.

Impact of GAS5 genetic polymorphism on prostate cancer susceptibility and clinicopathologic characteristics

Down-regulation of Growth arrest-specific 5 (GAS5) is correlated with enhanced cell proliferation and poorer prognosis of prostate cancer. We aimed to investigate the effect of variant rs145204276 of GAS5 on the prostate cancer susceptibility and clinicopathologic characteristics. In this study, 579 prostate cancer patients who underwent robot-assisted radical prostatectomy and 579 healthy controls were included. The frequency of the allele del of rs145204276 were compared between the patients and the controls to evaluate the impact of tumor susceptibility and the correlation of clinicopathological variables. The results shown that patients who carries genotype ins/del or del/del at SNP rs145204276 showed decreased risk of pathological lymph node metastasis disease (OR=0.545, p=0.043) and risk of seminal vesicle invasion (OR=0.632, p=0.022) comparing to with genotype ins/ins. In the subgroup analysis of age, more significant risk reduction effects were noted over lymph node metastasis disease (OR=0.426, p=0.032) and lymphovascular invasion (OR=0.521, p=0.025). In conclusion, the rs145204276 polymorphic genotype of GAS5 can predict the risk of lymph node metastasis. This is the first study to report the correlation between GAS5 gene polymorphism and prostate cancer prognosis.

A Genetic Variant of rs145204276 in the Promoter Region of Long Noncoding RNA GAS5 Is Associated With a Reduced Risk of Breast Cancer

INTRODUCTION

Growth arrest-specific 5 (GAS5), downregulated in breast cancer (BC), functions as a tumor suppressor by affecting tumor growth and cell apoptosis in vivo and in vitro. This study was designed to determine whether an insertion (ins)/deletion (del) polymorphism (rs145204276 AGGCA/-) in the promoter region of GAS5 was a susceptibility gene to the occurrence of BC.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A hospital-based case-control study was conducted and the GAS5 rs145204276 genotype was analyzed in 575 sporadic BC patients and 602 controls to test the association between the polymorphism and BC risk. Further functional analysis was performed to evaluate the effect of the polymorphism on the promoter activity and GAS5 expression levels using quantitative polymerase chain reaction and dual luciferase reporter assay.

RESULTS

The prevalence of BC was lower in carriers with rs145204276 ins/del and del/del genotypes compared with those with ins/ins genotype (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 0.74; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.58-0.92; P = .009). An allelic test for association with BC was also significant (del vs. ins: adjusted OR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.65-0.93; P = .007). Genotype-phenotype analysis revealed that individuals with rs145204276 ins/del and del/del genotypes expressed significantly higher levels of GAS5. Luciferase reporter analysis revealed that rs145204276 del allele enhanced the promoter activity of GAS5.

CONCLUSION

The rs145204276 del allele might protect against the development of BC via inducing the promoter activity by binding to transcriptional factor specificity protein 1, and finally resulting in higher levels of GAS5.

A Functional Polymorphism rs145204276 in the Promoter of Long Noncoding RNA GAS5 Is Associated with an Increased Risk of Ischemic Stroke

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play crucial roles in the regulation of pathological process of ischemic stroke (IS) via affecting cell apoptosis, inflammation, cell death, and angiogenesis. LncRNA growth arrest-specific 5 (GAS5) was observed to be up-regulated in IS, acting as a competing endogenous RNA for miR-137 to mediate the Notch1 signaling pathway. In this study, we aimed to whether an insertion/deletion polymorphism (rs145204276) in the promoter of GAS5 was related to the risk of IS. The rs145204276 was genotyped using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in 509 patients with IS and 668 healthy controls with frequencies matched to cases regarding age, gender, living area, and ethnicity. The GAS5 expression levels were determined using qPCR and relative luciferase activity was measured using the Dual Luciferase assay system. The presence of del/del genotype and del allele was associated with an increased risk of IS [del/del versus ins/ins: adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 2.06, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.37-3.11; recessive model: adjusted OR = 2.07, 95% CI: 1.41-3.04; del versus ins: adjusted OR = 1.31, 95% CI: 1.08-1.57]. Results from logistic regression analysis identified risk factors for IS, including hypertension, total cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and rs145204276 del/del genotype. Furthermore, patients carrying rs145204276 del/del genotype had significantly higher levels of GAS5 and cells transfected with rs145204276 del allele exhibited a larger increase in luciferase activity. These findings indicate that rs145204276 del allele exhibited a significant association with an increased IS susceptibility by elevating the transcriptional activity and subsequently enhancing the expression of lncRNA GAS5.

Long Noncoding RNA FEZF1-AS1 Promotes Osteosarcoma Progression by Regulating the miR-4443/NUPR1 Axis

Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) FEZF1-AS1 was demonstrated to facilitate cell proliferation and migration in some cancers. However, the functions of FEZF1-AS1 and its molecular mechanism in osteosarcoma remain to be elucidated. In our study, we found that the expression of FEZF1-AS1 was upregulated in osteosarcoma samples and cell lines compared with normal tissues or cells. Besides, we showed that the expression levels of FEZF1-AS1 in osteosarcoma patients were positively correlated with tumor metastasis and TNM stage. Additionally, FEZF1-AS1 knockdown inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in U2OS and MG63 cells, while upregulation had the opposite effects in vitro. Moreover, FEZF1-AS1 depletion inhibited tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. We found that FEZF1-AS1 sponged miR-4443 to promote NUPR1 expression in U2OS and MG63 cells. Furthermore, knockdown of miR-4443 abrogated FEZF1-AS1 silencing-induced inhibition of cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in osteosarcoma. Finally, we found that restoration of NUPR1 rescued the proliferation, migration, and invasion abilities of FEZF1-AS1-depleted U2OS and MG63 cells. Our study indicated that FEZF1-AS1 could promote osteosarcoma progression by sponging miR-4443 to promote NUPR1 expression. The FEZF1-AS1/miR-4443/NUPR1 axis may act as a novel therapeutic strategy for osteosarcoma treatment.