Elevated expression of CCAT2 is associated with poor prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
CCAT2, a novel long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), is found to promote the metastasis and invasion of colon, lung, and breast cancers. This study aimed to investigate the level of CCAT2 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and to elucidate its clinical significance.


METHODS
The expression level of CCAT2 and the status of MYC amplification were examined in 229 ESCC samples using quantitative real- time PCR.


RESULTS
CCAT2 was upregulated in ESCC tissues, especially in cases with lymph node metastasis (LNM), advanced TNM stages, and MYC amplification. Furthermore, the level of CCAT2 was positively correlated with TNM stages, LNM, and the number of positive lymph nodes. High CCAT2 expression and MYC amplification were significantly associated with TNM stages and LNM. Survival analyses revealed that high CCAT2 expression and MYC amplification were significantly associated with poorer overall survival in ESCC patients. Furthermore, patients with high CCAT2 expression and MYC amplification had a 2.199-fold increased risk of death compared with those with low CCAT2 expression and MYC non-amplification.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study provides the first evidence associating CCAT2 expression and poor survival in ESCC. CCAT2 may be a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for ESCC.
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Taizhou Central Hospital, Taizhou, Zhejiang, China.
Xuelin
X
Zhang
Yunhua
Y
Xu
Chunya
C
He
Xiaowei
X
Guo
Jian
J
Zhang
Chengzhi
C
He
Ling
L
Zhang
Min
M
Kong
Baofu
B
Chen
Chengchu
C
Zhu
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics*; D018276:Carcinoma, Medullary / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D004947:Esophagus / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005784:Gene Amplification; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc / Q000235:genetics*; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015996:Survival Rate
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C489427:MYC protein, human; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding; D012333:RNA, Messenger
CCAT2; Long non-coding RNA; MYC; esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; gene amplification