Increased levels of long noncoding RNA LINC00691 correlate with poor prognosis in non–small‐cell lung cancer patients

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Although long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 691 (LINC00691) has been functionally identified in several tumors, the association between LINC00691 and non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has not been reported. The objective of our study was to explore the clinical significance of LINC00691 in NSCLC. METHODS: RT-PCR was performed to detect LINC00691 levels in 177 pairs of human NSCLC tissues and matched normal lung specimens. A chi-squared test was used to analyze the possible influence of LINC00691 on the clinical progress of NSCLC. Kaplan-Meier methods were used to determine differences in patient survival. The prognostic value of survival variables was evaluated using univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: We found that LINC00691 levels were increased in tumor specimens compared with matched normal lung tissues (P < .01). Increased LINC00691 levels correlated with lymph node metastasis (P = .025) and advanced TNM stage (P = .002) in NSCLC patients. Moreover, clinical investigations revealed that NSCLC patients with high LINC00691 expression had a shorter overall survival than those with low LINC00691 expression (P = .0042). Finally, Cox regression assays confirmed LINC00691 as an independent prognostic factor for NSCLC patients. CONCLUSIONS: The aberrant expression of LINC00691 may function as a reliable marker for the progression and prognosis of NSCLC in patients.