Upregulation and Clinicopathological Significance of Long Non-coding NEAT1 RNA in NSCLC Tissues

Background: Recent reports have shown that nuclear enriched abundant transcript 1 (NEAT1), a long noncodingRNA (lncRNA), contributes to the precise control of gene expression and is related to several humanmalignancies. However, limited data are available on the expression and function of NEAT1 in lung cancer.The major objective of the current study was to profile the expression and clinicopathological significance ofNEAT1 in non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs). Materials and
Methods: NEAT1 expression in 125 NSCLCcases and paired adjacent non-cancer tissues was assessed by real-time quantitative reverse transcription-PCR(qRT-PCR). Relationships between NEAT1 and clinicopathological factors were also investigated.
Results:The relative level of NEAT1 was 6.98±3.74 in NSCLC tissues, significantly elevated as compared to that of theadjacent non-cancer lung tissues (4.83±2.98, p<0.001). The area under curve (AUC) of high expression of NEAT1to diagnose NSCLC was 0.684 (95% CI: 0.619~0.750, p<0.001). NEAT1 expression was positively correlated withpatient age (r=-2.007, p=0.047), lymphatic metastasis (r=-2.731, p=0.007), vascular invasion (r=-3.617, p=0.001)and clinical TNM stage (r=-4.134, p<0.001).
Conclusions: This study indicates that NEAT1 might be associatedwith oncogenesis and progression in NSCLC, and suggests application in molecular targeted therapy.