ABSTRACT
ObjectiveTo screen out the key intergenic long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) and their association with patient prognosis. MethodsCCA expression and clinical data were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). High-throughput gene expression data in GSE107943 dataset were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). R software was used to analyze differentially expressed genes and determine significantly differentially expressed lncRNAs between tumor and normal samples, and the key lncRNAs were screened out. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze the value of gene expression in the diagnosis of CCA; the Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to analyze prognosis; Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was used to investigate significantly enriched pathways; quantitative real-time PCR was used to verify gene expression in clinical samples. ResultsA total of 451 upregulated lncRNAs and 154 downregulated lncRNAs in both TCGA and GSE107943 dataset were screened out. The lncRNA RP11-488L18.10 in TCGA and GSE107943 dataset was highly abundant in tumor tissue. Based on TCGA and GSE107943 dataset, the ROC curve analysis of the association between lncRNA RP11-488L18.10 expression and CCA showed that the expression of lncRNA RP11-488L18.10 had an area under the ROC curve of 1 in TCGA (P＜0.000 1) and 0.9469 in GSE107943 (P＜0.000 1). In TCGA, the high expression of lncRNA RP11-488L18.10 significantly predicted overall survival rate (P=0.016) and recurrence-free survival rate (P=0.017) in patients with CCA; in GSE107943, the high expression of lncRNA RP11-488L18.10 significantly predicted overall survival rate (P=0.023) and recurrence-free survival rate (P=0.005) in patients with CCA. LncRNA RP11-488L18.10 was significantly positively correlated with MCM2. Compared with the adjacent tissue, CCA tissue had high expression of lncRNA RP11-488L18.10 (P=0.010) and MCM2 (P=0.023). ConclusionLncRNA RP11-488L18.10 is closely associated with the development and prognosis of CCA and thus may become a target for the diagnosis and treatment of CCA.