Long Noncoding RNA NEAT1: A Potential Biomarker in the Progression of Laryngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) is diverse in its natural history and responsiveness to treatments. There is an urgent need to generate candidate biomarkers for the stratification and individualization of treatment to avoid overtreatment or inadequate treatment. Long noncoding RNA nuclear paraspeckle assembly transcript 1 (NEAT1) has been identified as an oncogenic gene in multiple human tumors entitles, and dysregulation of NEAT1 was tightly linked to carcinogenesis and cancer progression.

One hundred two paraffin samples of LSCC patients were collected. Furthermore, in situ hybridization (ISH), Kaplan-Meier, and MTT were used to analyze the relationship between NEAT1 and the progress of LSCC.

In this study, ISH revealed that NEAT1 was strongly expressed in the nucleus. The increased expression of NEAT1 was correlated with T grade, neck nodal metastasis, clinical stage, drinking history, or smoking history of LSCC. The Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that patients with higher NEAT1 expression had a worse overall survival in LSCC patients. In addition, NEAT1 knockdown significantly inhibited the growth of LSCC cells.

Together, these results suggested that NEAT1 involved in the progress of LSCC and might act as a tumor oncogenic gene. This study provides a potential new marker and target for gene therapy in the treatment of LSCC.