LncRNA DL[G.sub.2]-AS1 as a Novel Biomarker in Lung Adenocarcinoma

• Published in: Cancers 2020-08, Vol.12 (8), p.1
• Main Authors: Arenas, Alberto M, Andrades, Marta Cuadros Alvaro, Garcia, Daniel J, Coira, Isabel F, Rodriguez, Maria Isabel, Balinas-Gavira, Carlos, Peinado, Paola, Alvarez-Perez, Juan Carlos, Medina, Pedro P
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Genetic aspects; Lung cancer; Methods; RNA sequencing
• ISSN: 2072-6694; 2072-6694
• DOI: 10.3390/cancers12082080

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a heterogeneous class of non-coding RNAs whose biological roles are still poorly understood. LncRNAs serve as gene expression regulators, frequently interacting with epigenetic factors to shape the outcomes of crucial biological processes, and playing roles in different pathologies including cancer. Over the last years, growing scientific evidence supports the key role of some lncRNAs in tumor development and proposes them as valuable biomarkers for the clinic. In this study, we aimed to characterize lncRNAs whose expression is altered in tumor samples from patients with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) compared to adjacent normal tissue samples. On an RT-qPCR survey of 90 cancer-related lncRNAs, we found one lncRNA, DL[G.sub.2]-AS1, which was consistently downregulated in 70 LUAD patients. To gain insight into its biological function, DL[G.sub.2]-AS1 was cloned and successfully re-expressed in LUAD cancer cell lines. We determined that DL[G.sub.2]-AS1 is not a cis-regulatory element of its overlapping gene DL[G.sub.2], as their transcription levels were not correlated, nor did DL[G.sub.2]-AS1 restoration modify the expression of DL[G.sub.2] protein. Furthermore, after generating a receiver operating curve (ROC) and calculating the area under curve (AUC), we found that DL[G.sub.2]-AS1 expression showed high sensitivity and specificity (AUC = 0.726) for the classification of LUAD and normal samples, determining its value as a potential lung cancer biomarker.