Identification of a four-long non-coding RNA signature in predicting breast cancer survival

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) serve key roles in tumorigenesis and are differentially expressed in cancer. Using bioinformatics and statistical methods, the present study aimed to identify an lncRNA signature to predict breast cancer survival. The gene expression data of 768 patients with breast cancer were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas database, and Cox regression, Kaplan-Meier and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed to construct and validate a predictive model. Gene Ontology term enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis were employed to predict the functions of the indicated lncRNAs. A signature consisting of four lncRNAs, including PVT1, MAPT-AS1, LINC00667 and LINC00938, was identified, and patients were subsequently divided into high- and low-risk groups according to the median risk score. Kaplan-Meier analysis confirmed that patients in the high-risk group exhibited significantly poorer overall survival rate in both the training (P=0.0151) and the validation set (P=0.0016); furthermore, ROC analysis confirmed that the model could predict patient survival with a certain sensitivity and specificity. In conclusion, the four-lncRNA signature presents a potential prognostic biomarker for breast cancer that may be relevant for clinical application.