Expression of long non-coding RNA LOC285194 and its prognostic significance in human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

INTRODUCTION: Dysregulation of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) plays critical roles in tumor progression. lncRNA LOC285194 was previously shown to be correlated with aggressive clinicopathological features and poor prognosis in several cancers. The aim of this study was to investigate relationship between LOC285194 expression and clinical outcomes in human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

METHODS: Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) assay was performed to detect the expression of lncRNA LOC285194 in human PDAC cells and tissue samples. The association of LOC285194 expression with clinicopathologic features was analyzed. Kaplan-Meier analyses were used to assess survival of patients. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed using the Cox proportional hazards model to analyze the prognostic significance of LOC285194 expression.

RESULTS: Our data showed that the relative level of LOC285194 in PDAC cells was significantly lower than that in normal human pancreatic duct epithelial cell line. Also, the expression of LOC285194 in PDAC tissues was significantly lower than that in adjacent non-tumor tissues. By statistical analyses, low LOC285194 expression was observed to be closely correlated with clinical stage, lymphnode metastasis and liver metastasis. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed that patients with low LOC285194 expression had a poor overall survival compared with the high LOC285194 group (P < 0.05). Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that low LOC285194 expression was an independent poor prognostic factor for PDAC patients.

CONCLUSIONS: Our data provided the first evidence that reduced LOC285194 in PDAC tissues was correlated with tumor progression, and lncRNA LOC285194 might be a potential molecular biomarker for predicting the prognosis of patients.