Identification of functional long non-coding RNAs in gastric cancer by bioinformatics analysis

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been proven to play important roles in various cancers, including gastric cancer (GC). However, detailed knowledge about lncRNAs in GC is limited. Therefore we carried out an in-depth study of public data and found 83 differently expressed lncRNAs in GC. To further confirm the target genes of these lncRNAs, we constructed a co-expression network between lncRNAs and mRNAs and found three lncRNAs (MBNL1-AS1, HAND2-AS1 and MIR100HG) were at the core of the network. By coalition analysis of clinical information and the three lncRNAs' expression level from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and GSE15459 data sets, we found MIR100HG could be a potential prognostic factor. Clinical samples showed patients with higher MIR100HG expression had poorer prognosis, and further experiments demonstrated that MIR100HG was associated with proliferation, migration and invasion of GC cells. Hopefully, MIR100HG might be considered as a novel prognostic factor and biomarker for GC.