Association between genetic polymorphisms in long non-coding RNAs and pancreatic cancer risk

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as candidate biomarkers of cancer, having regulatory functions in both oncogenic and tumor-suppressive pathways. Concerning pancreatic cancer (PC), deregulation of lncRNAs involved in tumor initiation, invasion, and metastasis seem to play a key role. However, data is scarce about regulatory mechanism of lncRNA expression.

The aim of our study was to investigate the contribution of two lncRNAs polymorphisms (rs1561927 and rs4759313 of PVT1 and HOTAIR, respectively) in PC susceptibility.

A case-control study was conducted analysing rs1561927 and rs4759313 polymorphisms using DNA collected in a population-based case-control study of pancreatic cancer (111 pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cases (PDAC), 56 pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (PNET), and 125 healthy controls).

Regarding the PVT1 rs1561927 polymorphism the G allele was significantly overrepresented in both PDAC and PNET patients compared to the controls, while the presence of the HOTAIR rs4759314 G allele was found to be overrepresented in the PNET patients only compared to the controls. The PVT1 rs1561927 AG/GG genotypes were associated with poor overall survival in PDAC patients.

Our results suggested that polymorphisms of these two lncRNA polymorphisms implicated in pancreatic carcinogenesis. Further large-scale and functional studies are needed to confirm our results.