Evaluation of the Effect of Circulating IncRNAs in Colorectal Cancers: As a Potential Biomarker.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the possibilities of using the ARHGAP5-AS1, LOC152578, SNHG16, ZNRF3-IT1, CCAT1, CRNDE, and XLOC_000303 circulating lncRNAs as a non-invasive biomarker in colorectal cancers (CRCs). METHODS: In this study, we enrolled plasma samples of 65 CRC patients (50 stages III/IV and 15 stages I/II) and plasma samples of 31 individuals in the control group of similar ages. Thereafter, we performed plasma separation and total RNA extraction; then, RNAs were reversely transcribed to complementary DNA. And then, we analyzed using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction technique for lncRNA expression analysis. RESULTS: Our results showed that the expression levels of ZNRF3IT1 (p=0.011), CCAT1 (p=0.007), CRNDE (p=0.002), and XLOC_000303 (p=0.001) were significantly upregulated in the CRC when it was compared to with the control group. ZNRF3IT1, CCAT1, CRNDE, and XLOC_000303 lncRNAs were observed to have similar discriminating power. The calculated area under the curve of receiver operating characteristic was 0.66, 0.67, 0.70, and 0.70, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our results revealed a high discriminatory power of ZNRF3-IT1, CCAT1, CRNDE, and XLOC_000303 lncRNA in distinguishing CRC patients from healthy individuals. We also found that increased XLOC_000303 expression is a protective factor against metastasis formation. This study demonstrated that ZNRF3-IT1, CCAT1, CRNDE, and XLOC_000303 circulating lncRNAs may be used as a potential non-invasive biomarker in CRC. We think that the increased expression of XLOC_000303 may be a protective factor against metastasis formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]