The SNORA21 expression is upregulated and acts as a novel independent indicator in human gastric cancer prognosis

Emerging evidence indicates that small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) act crucial roles in oncogenesis. Herein, the aim of this study is to investigate the clinical value of SNORA21 expression in gastric cancer (GC).

The expression of SNORA21 was determined in 79 cases of GC tissues and adjacent normal tissues by quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis. The association between SNORA21 expression and clinicopathological features was analyzed by the chi-square test. The survival curves were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to assess the prognostic value of SNORA21 expression.

Our results first demonstrated that SNORA21 expression was significantly upregulated in human GC tissues and cells compared to their corresponding adjacent normal tissues and GES-1 cells, respectively (p<0.05). Furthermore, elevated SNORA21 expression was significantly associated with distant metastasis (p<0.05) and lymph node metastasis (p<0.05) in GC patients. Kaplan-Meier survival plots demonstrated that higher SNORA21 expression was associated with poor disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) rate, respectively. Univariate analysis and multivariate regression analysis indicated that a higher SNORA21 was an independent risk factor for prognosis in GC patients.

The current results indicate that SNORA21 expression may be served as a predictor of GC prognosis.