Scientometrics
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Surg. Feb 27, 2021; 13(2): 210-221
Published online Feb 27, 2021. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v13.i2.210
Nine-long non-coding ribonucleic acid signature can improve the survival prediction of colorectal cancer
Zhen Zong, Ce-Gui Hu, Tai-Cheng Zhou, Zhuo-Min Yu, Fu-Xin Tang, Hua-Kai Tian, Hui Li, He Wang
Zhen Zong, Ce-Gui Hu, Hua-Kai Tian, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
Tai-Cheng Zhou, Zhuo-Min Yu, Fu-Xin Tang, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery and Hernia Center, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510655, Guangdong Province, China
Hui Li, Department of Rheumatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
He Wang, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
Author contributions: Zong Z and Hu CG contributed equally to this work; Wang H and Li H were both corresponding authors; Zong Z, Zhou TC, and Tang FX were responsible for study conception and design; Wang H, Tian HK, and Yu ZM were responsible for the provision of study materials or patients; Li H and Hu CG were responsible for data analysis and interpretation; All authors were responsible for manuscript writing and final approval of manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81860433; the Natural Science Youth Foundation of Jiangxi Province, No. 20192BAB215036; the Foundation for Fostering Young Scholar of Nanchang University, No. PY201822; National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81960359; and the Key Technology Research and Development Program of Jiangxi Province, No. 20202BBG73024.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors confirm that the manuscript was prepared according to the PRISMA 2009 checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: He Wang, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, No. 1 Minde Road, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China. wanghe2000@163.com
Received: July 11, 2020
Peer-review started: July 11, 2020
First decision: November 16, 2020
Revised: November 30, 2020
Accepted: December 17, 2020
Article in press: December 17, 2020
Published online: February 27, 2021
Processing time: 208 Days and 10.6 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

To investigate molecular biomarkers that accurately predict prognosis would be of great clinical significance. Increasing evidence suggests long non-coding ribonucleic acids (lncRNAs) are frequently aberrantly expressed in colorectal cancer (CRC).

Research motivation

To elucidate the prognostic function of multiple lncRNAs that served as biomarkers in CRC.

Research objectives

To study the lncRNAs that are reportedly involved in various biological processes of CRC including proliferation, immortality, angiogenesis, growth suppression, motility and viability.

Research methods

We collected lncRNA expression profiling using the lncRNA-mining approach in large CRC cohorts from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed to identify the optimal cut-off point, which patients could be classified into the high-risk or low-risk group. Based on the Cox co-efficient of the individual lncRNAs, we identified nine-lncRNA signature that are associated with survival of patients with CRC in the training set (n = 175). The prognostic value of this nine-lncRNA signature was validated in the testing set (n = 174) and TCGA set (n = 349) respectively. The prognostic models were comprised by these nine CRC-specific lncRNAs, performing well for risk stratification in the testing set and TCGA set. Time-dependent receiver operating characteristic analysis indicated that this predictive model had well performance.

Research results

Multivariate Cox regression and stratification analysis showed that a nine-lncRNA signature was independent of other clinical features in predicting overall survival. Functional enrichment analysis of Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways and Gene Ontology terms further indicated these nine prognostic lncRNAs were closely associated with carcinogenesis associated pathways and biological functions in CRC.

Research conclusions

A nine-lncRNA expression signature was identified and validated which could improve the prognosis prediction of CRC, providing potential prognostic biomarkers and efficient therapeutic targets for patients with CRC.

Research perspectives

Our present study identified nine-lncRNA signature for survival prediction of CRC patients by the comprehensive data analysis. This signature was reproducible and reliable in a second independent large-scale CRC cohort, supporting their value and effectiveness. To the best of our knowledge, preliminary investigation of the function of this nine-lncRNA signature has not been reported, which further strengthen the possibility that the nine-lncRNA signature could be used effectively to predict disease course in CRC. In addition, the lncRNA profiling approach described here could potentially be applied in other kinds of studies and served as a useful method for the systematic identification of lncRNA biomarkers in clinical practice.