Do circulating long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) (LincRNA-p21, GAS 5, HOTAIR) predict the treatment response in patients with head and neck cancer treated with chemoradiotherapy?
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to be aberrantly expressed in head and neck cancer (HNC). The aim of the present study was to evaluate plasma levels of three lncRNA molecules (lincRNA-p21, GAS5, and HOTAIR) in the treatment response in HNC patients treated with radical chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Forty-one patients with HNC were enrolled in the study. Most of the patients had nasopharyngeal carcinoma (n = 27, 65.9 %) and locally advanced disease. Blood was drawn at baseline and treatment evaluation 4.5 months after therapy. lncRNAs in plasma were measured by semiquantitative PCR. Treatment response was evaluated according to clinical examination, RECIST and PERCIST criteria based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and positron emission tomography with computed tomography (PET/CT) findings. Complete response (CR) rates were 73.2, 36.6, and 50 % for clinical investigation, PET/CT-, or MRI-based response evaluation, respectively. Predictive value of lncRNAs was investigated in patients with CR vs. those with partial response (PR)/progressive disease (PD). We found that post-treatment GAS5 levels in patients with PR/PD were significantly higher compared with patients with CR based on clinical investigation (p = 0.01). Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that at a cutoff value of 0.3 of GAS5, sensitivity and specificity for clinical tumor response were 82 and 77 %, respectively. Interestingly, pretreatment GAS5 levels were significantly increased in patients with PR/PD compared to those with CR upon MRI-based response evaluation (p = 0.042). In contrast to GAS5, pretreatment or post-treatment lincRNA-p21 and HOTAIR levels were not informative for treatment response. Our results suggest that circulating GAS5 could be a biomarker in predicting treatment response in HNC patients.
Department of Radiation Oncology, Institute of Oncology, Istanbul University, Capa, 34390, Istanbul, Turkey. merdanfayda@yahoo.com.
Merdan
M
Fayda
Department of Basic Oncology, Institute of Oncology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Mustafa
M
Isin
Department of Radiation Oncology, Institute of Oncology, Istanbul University, Capa, 34390, Istanbul, Turkey.
Makbule
M
Tambas
Department of Radiation Oncology, Institute of Oncology, Istanbul University, Capa, 34390, Istanbul, Turkey.
Murat
M
Guveli
Department of Radiation Oncology, Institute of Oncology, Istanbul University, Capa, 34390, Istanbul, Turkey.
Rasim
R
Meral
Department of Radiation Oncology, Institute of Oncology, Istanbul University, Capa, 34390, Istanbul, Turkey.
Musa
M
Altun
Oncological Radiology Unit, Institute of Oncology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Dilek
D
Sahin
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Gozde
G
Ozkan
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Yasemin
Y
Sanli
Department of Basic Oncology, Institute of Oncology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Husniye
H
Isin
Department of Basic Oncology, Institute of Oncology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Emre
E
Ozgur
Department of Basic Oncology, Institute of Oncology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Ugur
U
Gezer
D019540:Area Under Curve; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D059248:Chemoradiotherapy; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding / Q000097:blood*; D012372:ROC Curve; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding
Circulating long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs); GAS5; HOTAIR; Head and neck; LincRNA-p21; Treatment response predictive value