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Overexpression of HOXA-AS2 LncRNA in Patients with Gastric Cancer and Its Association with Helicobacter pylori Infection

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Abstract

Purpose

LncRNAs are regulatory factors that play a prominent role in the carcinogenesis processes and cancer cell ability to invade and metastasize. Hence, lncRNAs are considered as the potential diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers in diverse malignancies. The present study was designed to assess the difference of HOXA-AS2 gene expression levels in cancerous tissues as compared to marginal noncancerous tissues of gastric cancer patients.

Methods

Fifty pairs of cancerous and marginal noncancerous tissue of gastric cancer patients were collected in the present study. Then, RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis were performed for all specimens. The qRT-PCR was carried out to examine the difference of HOXA-AS2 gene expression. Furthermore, the association between HOXA-AS2 expression and the clinicopathological features as well as the function of HOXA-AS2 biomarkers was evaluated.

Results

The HOXA-AS2 expression was significantly elevated in cancerous tissues as compared to marginal noncancerous tissues in gastric cancer patients (p < 0.0001). Analysis of gene expression data revealed that there was a significant association between an increased HOXA-AS2 gene expression and clinicopathological features such as tumor size ˃ 5 cm (p = 0.009), lymph node metastasis (p = 0.028), and H. pylori infection (p = 0.011). The results of ROC analysis indicated that HOXA-AS2 with AUC, sensitivity, and specificity of 0.816, 92%, and 70%, respectively, can act as a potential biomarker (CI 95% = 0.7297–0.9023).

Conclusion

With regard to the overexpression of HOXA-AS2 in gastric cancer tissues, the mentioned gene may serve as an oncogenic lncRNA in gastric cancer patients. Moreover, HOXA-AS2 can act as a potential biomarker in molecular targeted therapies to recognize and treat gastric cancer patients.

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Data Availability

The data confirming the findings of this project are available upon a reasonable request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgment

The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance and support of all the colleagues and patients that contributed to this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

    Ali Rajabi, Atousa Riahi, Hanie Shirabadi-Arani, Mehdi Haghi & Reza Safaralizadeh

  2. Liver and Gastroenterology Disease Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Science, Tabriz, Iran

    Yaghoub Moaddab

Authors
  1. Ali Rajabi
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  2. Atousa Riahi
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  3. Hanie Shirabadi-Arani
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  4. Yaghoub Moaddab
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  5. Mehdi Haghi
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  6. Reza Safaralizadeh
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Contributions

Reza Safaralizadeh and Ali Rajabi designed the study. Ali Rajabi, Mehdi Haghi, and Yaghoub Moaddab contributed to the acquisition of human data and sample collection. Ali Rajabi and Reza Safaralizadeh performed the analysis. Reza Safaralizadeh assisted in the analysis of data and interpretation of findings. Atousa Riahi, Ali Rajabi, and Hanie Shirabadi Arani drafted the manuscript. Reza Safaralizadeh provided a critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content. Reza Safaralizadeh supervised the project. All authors reviewed the manuscript and approved the final version for publication.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Reza Safaralizadeh.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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The Ethics Committee of the University of Tabriz approved the present study.

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Rajabi, A., Riahi, A., Shirabadi-Arani, H. et al. Overexpression of HOXA-AS2 LncRNA in Patients with Gastric Cancer and Its Association with Helicobacter pylori Infection. J Gastrointest Canc 53, 72–77 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12029-020-00549-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12029-020-00549-y

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