Clinical Significance of Long Non-coding RNA MALAT1 Expression in Tissue and Serum of Breast Cancer.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been proven to serve a critical role in cancer development and progression. The aim of this study was to elucidate clinical significance of lncRNA MALAT1 expression in breast cancer (BC). A total of 78 BC patients treated with radical resection were enrolled in this study. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to detect MALAT1 expression in tissues and serum samples. The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was constructed to describe diagnostic specificity and sensitivity. Lentivirus-mediated RNA interference was used to knockdown MALAT1 in the MDA-MB-231 cell line, and then cell proliferation and invasion were explored. Results showed that MALAT1 expression was significantly up-regulated in 85.9% (67/78) of cancerous tissues compared with normal counterparts (P<0.01). Further, an elevated MALAT1 expression in BC tissue was significantly associated with lymph metastasis (P=0.037) and adverse 5-year disease-free survival (mean 48.5 months vs 62.7 months, P=0.012). Suppression of lncRNA MALAT1 significantly inhibited BC cells proliferation, migration and invasion, induced apoptosis and cell cycle G1 arrest. In addition, serum MALAT1 levels in BC patients were much higher than levels in patients with benign breast disease (P<0.001), its diagnostic efficacy was satisfactory, area under the curve (AUC) was 0.833. In conclusion, MALAT1 upregulation plays an important rolein BC development, and serum MALAT1 level may be a potential tumor marker for BC diagnosis.