The novel lncRNA PTTG3P is downregulated and predicts poor prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-associated mortality worldwide. Recently, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been studied as key regulators in some biological processes. Of note, the molecular mechanism and prognostic value of lncRNAs in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have largely remained unclear.

In this study, we compared the PTTG3P expression levels between lung cancer and normal lung samples by analyzing 5 public datasets (GSE18842, GSE19804, GSE27262, GSE30219, and GSE19188). Next, pentose phosphate pathway and co-expression networks were constructed to identify key targets of lncRNA PTTG3P. Furthermore, gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis were performed to explore the potential roles of lncRNA PTTG3P. Moreover, we constructed PTTG3P-mediated ceRNA networks in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC).

In the present study, our analysis showed that PTTG3P expression was higher in high T stage LUAD and LUSC samples, as well as high N stage NSCLC tissues. Of note, we found that higher PTTG3P expression is correlated with shorter survival time in NSCLC patients by analyzing Kaplan-Meier plotter datasets. We found that PTTG3P was significantly associated with NSCLC cell proliferation regulation by affecting a series of cell cycle related biological processes.

Bioinformatics analysis showed that PTTG3P was associated with NSCLC cell proliferation. These results suggested that PTTG3P could serve as a new therapeutic and prognostic target for NSCLC.