Co-expression of AFAP1-AS1 and PD-1 predicts poor prognosis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

// Yanyan Tang 1, 2, 3 , Yi He 2, 4 , Lei Shi 5 , Liting Yang 2 , Jinpeng Wang 2 , Yu Lian 2 , Chunmei Fan 2 , Ping Zhang 6 , Can Guo 2 , Shanshan Zhang 1 , Zhaojian Gong 2, 5 , Xiayu Li 3 , Fang Xiong 1 , Xiaoling Li 1, 2, 3 , Yong Li 2, 7 , Guiyuan Li 1, 2, 3 , Wei Xiong 1, 2, 3 and Zhaoyang Zeng 1, 2, 3 1 The Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis of the Chinese Ministry of Health, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China 2 The Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion of the Chinese Ministry of Education, Cancer Research Institute, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China 3 Hunan Key Laboratory of Nonresolving Inflammation and Cancer, Disease Genome Research Center, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China 4 Hunan Key Laboratory of Translational Radiation Oncology, Hunan Cancer Hospital and The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China 5 Department of pathology, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China 6 School of Information Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China 7 Department of Cancer Biology, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA Correspondence to: Zhaoyang Zeng, email: zengzhaoyang@csu.edu.cn Lei Shi, email: shilei1000@hotmail.com Keywords: long non-coding RNA, AFAP1-AS1 , programmed death 1 ( PD-1 ), prognosis, nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) Received: January 13, 2017     Accepted: February 15, 2017     Published: March 24, 2017 ABSTRACT Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) carries a high potential for metastasis and immune escape, with a great risk of relapse after primary treatment. Through analysis of whole genome expression profiling data in NPC samples, we found that the expression of a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), actin filament-associated protein 1 antisense RNA 1 ( AFAP1-AS1 ), is significantly correlated with the immune escape marker programmed death 1 ( PD-1 ). We therefore assessed the expression of AFAP1-AS1 and PD-1 in a cohort of 96 paraffin-embedded NPC samples and confirmed that AFAP1-AS1 and PD-1 are co-expressed in infiltrating lymphocytes in NPC tissue. Moreover, patients with high expression of AFAP1-AS1 or PD-1 in infiltrating lymphocytes were more prone to distant metastasis, and NPC patients with positive expression of both AFAP1-AS1 and PD-1 had the poorest prognosis. This study suggests that AFAP1-AS1 and PD-1 may be potential therapeutic targets in NPC and that patients with co-expression of AFAP1-AS1 and PD-1 may be ideal candidates for future clinical trials of anti-PD-1 immune therapy.