Integrated analysis of long non-coding RNAs and mRNA expression profiles reveals the potential role of lncRNAs in gastric cancer pathogenesis.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to play a critical role in cancer biology and are frequently aberrantly expressed. Despite their important role in pathology, little is known mechanistically regarding their role in gastric cancer (GC) pathogenesis. To characterize the role of lncRNAs in GC pathogenesis, 8 paired human GC tissue samples and matched adjacent normal tissue were examined. Large scale expression profiling of lncRNA and mRNA was performed utilizing microarray technology and validated by qPCR. Differentially expressed lncRNAs were subjected to bioinformatic analysis to predict target genes, followed by the integration of differentially expressed mRNA data and GO and network analysis to further characterize potential interactions. In our study, 2,621 lncRNAs and 3,121 mRNAs were identified to be differentially expressed (≥2.0-fold change) in GC samples relative to their matched counterparts. lncRNA target prediction revealed the presence of 221 potential lncRNA-mRNA target pairs for the 75 differentially expressed lncRNAs and 60 differentially expressed genes. KEGG pathway analysis showed that these target genes were significantly enriched in 7 different pathways, of which the p53 signaling pathway was the most significant and has been previously implicated in GC pathogenesis. Construction of a lncRNA-mRNA correlation network revealed 10 differentially expressed lncRNAs potentially regulating the p53 signaling pathway. Overall, this is the first study perform global expression profiling of lncRNAs and mRNAs relating to GC. These results may provide important information for further insights into the pathogenesis of GC and provide potential targets for future therapeutics.