Upregulated lncRNA-PCAT1 is closely related to clinical diagnosis of multiple myeloma as a predictive biomarker in serum

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to explore serum PCAT-1 expression in multiple myeloma (MM) and examine the potential usefulness of this molecule as a biomarker for diagnosis in MM. METHODS Serum samples were collected from 60 newly diagnosed untreated MM patients, and 48 healthy controls. Serum PCAT-1 expression levels were detected by RT-qPCR. In addition, correlations between the relative expression of serum PCAT-1 and the concentrations of lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH), β2M, λ light chain and κ light chain were assessed. RESULTS It was found that the relative expression of serum PCAT-1 in MM patients (81.02 ± 136.9) was higher than that in healthy controls (3.17 ± 5.75) (U= 307.0, P< 0.0001) and was significantly correlated with β2M concentration (r= 0.461, P= 0.0002), but not with LDH, κ light and λ light chain concentration (r= 0.061, P= 0.641; r= 0.007, P= 0.956; r=-0.090, P= 0.499 respectively). Additionally, it was significantly correlated with different isotype of MM (H= 7.464, P= 0.024). The AUC of the ROC curve of serum PCAT-1 was 0.892 (95% CI 0.833-0.950), which was higher than other markers. Combining PCAT-1 and β2M together, the sensitivity was highest compared with other markers alone, or combined. CONCLUSION The expression levels of serum PCAT-1 in MM patients were significantly higher than that in healthy controls, suggesting that it may be useful in the auxiliary diagnosis of MM.