Overexpression of HOXA-AS2 LncRNA in Patients with Gastric Cancer and Its Association with Helicobacter pylori Infection.

PURPOSE: LncRNAs are regulatory factors that play a prominent role in the carcinogenesis processes and cancer cell ability to invade and metastasize. Hence, lncRNAs are considered as the potential diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers in diverse malignancies. The present study was designed to assess the difference of HOXA-AS2 gene expression levels in cancerous tissues as compared to marginal noncancerous tissues of gastric cancer patients. METHODS: Fifty pairs of cancerous and marginal noncancerous tissue of gastric cancer patients were collected in the present study. Then, RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis were performed for all specimens. The qRT-PCR was carried out to examine the difference of HOXA-AS2 gene expression. Furthermore, the association between HOXA-AS2 expression and the clinicopathological features as well as the function of HOXA-AS2 biomarkers was evaluated. RESULTS: The HOXA-AS2 expression was significantly elevated in cancerous tissues as compared to marginal noncancerous tissues in gastric cancer patients (p < 0.0001). Analysis of gene expression data revealed that there was a significant association between an increased HOXA-AS2 gene expression and clinicopathological features such as tumor size ˃ 5 cm (p = 0.009), lymph node metastasis (p = 0.028), and H. pylori infection (p = 0.011). The results of ROC analysis indicated that HOXA-AS2 with AUC, sensitivity, and specificity of 0.816, 92%, and 70%, respectively, can act as a potential biomarker (CI 95% = 0.7297-0.9023). CONCLUSION: With regard to the overexpression of HOXA-AS2 in gastric cancer tissues, the mentioned gene may serve as an oncogenic lncRNA in gastric cancer patients. Moreover, HOXA-AS2 can act as a potential biomarker in molecular targeted therapies to recognize and treat gastric cancer patients.

Overexpression of the GClnc1 as a Diagnostic Biomarker in Gastric Cancer Patients and its Link with H. Pylori Infection.

BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer (GC) is a complicated multifactorial neoplasm with a high fatality and prevalence rate around the globe that required the discovery of many unknown mechanisms involved in its inception and progression. The aim of this project was to investigate the alterations of GClnc1 expression in cancerous tissues relative to marginal non-cancerous tissues of patients with GC and its association with clinicopathological features. METHODS: In this research, the expression level of GClnc1 was assessed using the qRT-PCR. For this, 80 pairs of cancerous and marginal non-cancerous GC samples tissues were gathered. Then RNA isolation and cDNA synthesis were carried out. Eventually, the difference of GClnc1 expression levels in tumor tissue relative to marginal non-tumor tissue specimens of GC patients and its association with pathological characteristics, as well as biomarker's performance of GClnc1, was investigated. RESULTS: Expression data examination of GClnc1 indicates increased expression in GC tumor tissues relative to marginal non-cancerous tissues (p < 0.0001). GClnc1 overexpression was significantly linked with pathological features of patients with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.037) and H. pylori infection (p = 0.029). Based on ROC analysis, the GClnc1 as a biomarker has AUC, sensitivity%, and specificity% of 0.8228, 90%, and 61.67%, respec-tively (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Due to the GClnc1 increased expression in tumor tissues of GC patients, our research proposed that GClnc1 may be involved in the promotion and development of GC cells as a novel oncogene. Besides, in the molecular targeted therapies of GC patients, GClnc1 can be considered as a potential biomarker.