Three circulating long non-coding RNAs act as biomarkers for predicting NSCLC

Circulating long non coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged recently as major players in tumor biology and may be used for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and as potential therapeutic targets. We explored circulating lncRNA as a predictor for the tumorigenesis of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

In this study, we applied a lncRNA microarray to screen for a potential biomarker for NSCLC, utilizing RT-PCR (ABI 7900HT). A multi-stage validation and risk score formula detection analysis was used.

We discovered that three lncRNAs (RP11-397D12.4, AC007403.1, and ERICH1-AS1) were up regulated in NSCLC, compared with cancer-free controls, with the merged area under the curve in the training and validation sets of 0.986 and 0.861. Furthermore, the positive predictive value and negative predictive value of the three merged factors were 0.72 and 0.87. We confirmed stable detection of the three lncRNAs by three cycles of freezing and thawing.

RP11-397D12.4, AC007403.1, and ERICH1-AS1 may be potential biomarkers for predicting the tumorigenesis of NSCLC in the future.