ABSTRACT
Aim: We aimed to explore the circulating expression profile of nine lncRNAs (MALAT1, HOTAIR, PVT1, H19, ROR, GAS5, ANRIL, BANCR, MIAT) in breast cancer (BC) patients relative to normal and risky individuals. Methods: Serum relative expressions of the specified long non-coding RNAs were quantified in 155 consecutive women, using quantitative reverse-transcription PCR. Random Forest (RF) and decision tree were also applied. Results: Significant MALAT1 upregulation and GAS5 downregulation could discriminate risky women from healthy controls. Overexpression of the other genes showed good diagnostic performances. Lower GAS5 levels were associated with metastasis and recurrence. RF model revealed a better performance when combining gene expression patterns with risk factors. Conclusion: The studied panel could be utilized as diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers in BC, providing promising epigenetic-based therapeutic targets.