A novel long non-coding RNA FGF14-AS2 is correlated with progression and prognosis in breast cancer.

Breast cancer is diverse in their natural history and in their responsiveness to treatments. It is urgent to generate candidate biomarkers for the stratification of patients and personalization of therapy to avoid overtreatment or inadequate treatment. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been found to be pervasively transcribed in the genome and played critical roles in cancer progression. A lot of lncRNAs have been reported as potential prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets in multiple cancers. In this study, we demonstrated that FGF14 antisense RNA 2 (FGF14-AS2), a novel long non-coding RNA, was significantly down-regulated in breast cancer tissue compared with adjacent normal tissue both in validated cohort and TCGA cohort. Reduced expression of FGF14-AS2 was correlated with larger tumor size, more lymph node metastasis and advanced clinical stage in both cohorts. Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that patients with lower FGF14-AS2 expression had a worse overall survival. Moreover, multivariate analysis revealed that decreased expression of FGF14-AS2 was an independent predictor of overall survival. Together, these results suggested that FGF14-AS2 involved in the progress of breast cancer and might act as a tumor suppressor gene. To the best of our knowledge, it was firstly reported that FGF14-AS2 was involved in cancer. This study provided a potential new marker and a target for gene therapy in breast cancer treatment.

Unexpected features of breast cancer subtype.

BACKGROUND: Gene expression profiling of breast cancers identifies distinct molecular subtypes that affect prognosis. The aim of this study was to determine whether features of tumors especially the risks of lymph node (LN) metastases differ among molecular subtypes. METHODS: Subtypes were classified by immunohistochemical surrogates as luminal A, luminalHer2-, luminalHer2+, TNBC, and HER-2+. Data were obtained from an established, registered database of patients with invasive breast cancer treated at our hospital between July 2012 and October 2014. A total of 929 tumors were classifiable into molecular subtypes. RESULTS: The distribution of subtypes was luminal A (24.2%), luminalHer2- (27.8%), luminalHer2+ (9.1%), TNBC (21.3%), and HER-2+ (17.5%). Marked differences in age, tumor size, extent of lymph node involvement, and grade were observed among subtypes. On univariate analysis, the LN positivity varied across subtypes with 33.6% in luminal A, 40.3% in luminalHer2-, 37.3% in luminalHer2+, 37.6% in TNBC, and 47.4 % in HER-2+ (p=0.201). There was no significant difference in LN positivity among subtypes. On multivariable analysis, grade and tumor size were independent predictors of LN positivity. CONCLUSIONS: Predictors of LN metastases include higher grade and larger tumor size. Even though breast cancer subtype is not a statistically significant predictor of LN positivity, this information may still be useful in selecting the appropriate therapy in clinical practice.

Nasopharyngeal metastasis from colorectal cancer: a case report.

Metastases from colorectal cancer can occur either through the lymphatic or by hematogenous spread. The most common metastatic sites are the lung and liver. Nasopharyngeal metastasis from colorectal cancer has never been previously reported in the literature on the internet databases we can found. In this paper, we present the case of a 79-year-old male suffering from adenocarcinoma of the rectum with distant metastases to the liver, lung, and nasopharynx. Over the previous 7 years, he had received treatment for rectal cancer including radical surgery (miles surgery), chemotherapy, hepatectomy, and pneumonectomy. After local nasopharyngeal radiotherapy, the patient's quality of life significantly declined and they eventually died of dyspnea caused by airway obstruction due to a nasopharyngeal mass after 7 months of palliative treatment involving pain relief from end-stage disease. Nasopharyngeal metastases from colorectal cancer are extremely rare in the clinic. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case reporting this occurrence which not only extends the disease database but also warns doctors to pay more attention to these clinical scenarios. Strict monitoring of patients with colorectal cancer after primary treatment could lead to the early diagnosis of metastases and give patients better opportunities for treatment and improved prognosis.

Co-expression networks revealed potential core lncRNAs in the triple-negative breast cancer.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive type of breast cancer with unfavorable outcome. It is urgent to explore novel biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets in this malignancy. Increasing knowledge of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) significantly deepens our understanding of cancer biology. Here, we sequenced eight paired TNBC tumor tissues and non-cancerous tissues, and validated significantly differentially expressed lncRNAs. Gene ontology (GO) and pathway analysis were used to investigate the function of differentially expressed mRNAs. Further, potential core lncRNAs in TNBC were identified by co-expression networks. Kaplan-Meier analysis also indicated that breast cancer patients with lower expression level of rhabdomyosarcoma 2 associated transcript (RMST), one of the potential core lncRNAs, had worse overall survival. To the best of our knowledge, it was the first report that RMST was involved in breast cancer. Our research provided a rich resource to the research community for further investigating lncRNAs functions and identifying lncRNAs with diagnostic and therapeutic potentials in TNBC.

Identification of lncRNA FAM83H-AS1 as a novel prognostic marker in luminal subtype breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Luminal subtype breast cancer accounts for a predominant number of breast cancers. Considering the heterogeneity of the disease, it is urgent to develop novel biomarkers to improve risk stratification and optimize therapy choices. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) represents an emerging and understudied class of transcripts that play a significant role in cancer biology. Growing knowledge of cancer-associated lncRNAs contributes to the development of molecular markers for prognosis evaluation and gene therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three pairs of primary luminal subtype breast cancer tissues and adjacent non-cancerous tissues were collected and sequenced. EBseq algorithm was used to identify differentially expressed lncRNAs. RNA sequencing data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database were used to validate the robustness of our RNA-seq results. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were utilized to assess the association between the lncRNAs and overall survival of patients in TCGA cohort. RESULTS: A total of 796 lncRNAs were significantly dysregulated in luminal subtype breast cancer, including 436 upregulated and 360 downregulated lncRNAs. Among them, FAM83H antisense RNA 1 (FAM83H-AS1) was the most upregulated lncRNA, whereas GSN antisense RNA 1 (GSN-AS1) was the most downregulated lncRNA. Moreover, we proved that the high expression level of FAM83H-AS1 indicated unfavorable prognosis not only in luminal subtype breast cancer but also in all subtype breast cancers. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report indicating that FAM83H-AS1 was involved in luminal subtype breast cancer and was an independent prognostic indicator. CONCLUSION: Our study provides a rich resource to the research community for further identifying lncRNAs with diagnostic and therapeutic potentials and exploring biological function of lncRNAs in luminal subtype breast cancer.