Serum long non-coding RNAs MALAT1, AFAP1-AS1 and AL359062 as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for nasopharyngeal carcinoma

// Baoyu He 1, * , Jianchao Zeng 1, * , Wei Chao 1 , Xiaoli Chen 1 , Yujie Huang 1 , Kaifeng Deng 1 , Zhizhuo Huang 1 , Jinwan Li 1 , Meiyu Dai 1 , Shaojun Chen 2 , Haixin Huang 2 and Shengming Dai 1 1 Medical Science Laboratory, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Liuzhou, Guangxi 545005, China 2 Department of Oncology, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Liuzhou, Guangxi 545005, China * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Haixin Huang, email: 13507726193@163.com Shengming Dai, email: daishm@sina.com Keywords: long non-coding RNA, serum, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, early diagnosis, prognostic prediction Received: December 01, 2016     Accepted: March 22, 2017     Published: April 13, 2017 ABSTRACT Circulating RNAs in serum, plasma or other body liquid have emerged as useful and highly promising biomarkers for noninvasive diagnostic application. Herein, we aimed to establish a serum long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) signature for diagnosing nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). In this study, we recruited a cohort of 101 NPC patients, 20 patients with chronic nasopharyngitis (CN), 20 EBV carriers (EC) and 101 healthy controls. qRT-PCR was performed with NPC cells and serum samples to screen a pool of 38 NPC-related lncRNAs obtained from the LncRNADisease database. A profile of three circulating lncRNAs (MALAT1, AFAP1-AS1 and AL359062) was established for NPC diagnosis. By Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, this three-lncRNA signature showed high accuracy in discriminating NPC from healthy controls (AUC = 0.918), CN (AUC = 0.893) or EC (AUC = 0.877). Furthermore, high levels of these three lncRNAs were closely related to advanced NPC tumor node metastasis stages and EBV infection. Serum levels of these three lncRNAs declined significantly in patients after therapy. Our present study indicates that circulating MALAT1, AFAP1-AS1 and AL359062 may represent novel serum biomarkers for NPC diagnosis and prognostic prediction after treatment.