Comprehensive Characterization of Somatic Mutations Impacting lncRNA Expression for Pan-Cancer.

Area of Science:

• Genomics
• Cancer Biology
• Molecular Oncology

Background:

• Somatic mutations are key cancer features, but their impact on long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) remains largely unknown.
• Previous research focused primarily on protein-coding regions, neglecting the functional significance of lncRNA mutations in diverse cancers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize long noncoding RNAs affected by somatic mutations (MutLncs) and their functional roles across 17 cancer types.
• To construct global MutLnc landscapes by integrating multi-omics data.
• To explore the potential of MutLncs as cancer biomarkers.

Main Methods:

• Systematic integration of multi-omics data across 17 cancer types.
• Characterization of lncRNAs affected by somatic mutations (MutLncs).
• Co-occurrence analysis and survival analysis to identify MutLnc patterns and biomarker potential.

Main Results:

• MutLncs were commonly downregulated with low mutation frequencies across most cancer types.
• Co-occurrence analysis revealed combined MutLnc patterns influencing diverse cancers.
• Conserved and cancer-specific functions of MutLncs were identified, with potential roles in cancer pathogenesis.
• MutLncs and their co-occurrence pairs showed potential as cancer biomarkers.

Conclusions:

• Somatic mutations in lncRNAs (MutLncs) play significant roles across various cancer types.
• MutLnc landscapes and their functional impacts provide insights into cancer molecular pathogenesis.
• MutLncs and their co-occurrence patterns represent promising biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and therapeutic strategies.