title: Nuclear-enriched abundant transcript 1 as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in colorectal cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  High expression of the long non-coding RNA nuclear-enriched abundant transcript 1 (NEAT1) in whole blood has been reported in colorectal cancer patients; however, its' clinical significance and origin are unclear. We evaluated the diagnostic and prognostic value, and origin of whole blood NEAT1 in colorectal cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Expression of NEAT1 variants, NEAT1_v1 and NEAT1_v2 were determined using real-time quantitative PCR. The diagnostic value of whole blood NEAT1 expression was evaluated in test (n = 60) and validation (n = 200) cohorts of colorectal cancer patients and normal controls (NCs). To identify the origin of NEAT1, its expression was analyzed in blood, matched primary tumor tissues, para-tumor tissues, metastatic tissues, and also immune cells from patients or NCs. Function of NEAT1 in colorectal cell lines was also assessed. The correlation of NEAT1 expression with clinical outcomes was assessed in 191 patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Whole blood NEAT1 expression was significantly higher in colorectal cancer patients than in NCs. NEAT1_v1 and NEAT1_v2 expression were highly accurate in distinguishing colorectal cancer patients from NCs (area under the curve: 0.787 and 0.871, respectively). Knockdown of NEAT1_v1 in vitro could inhibit cell invasion and proliferation, while knockdown of NEAT1_v2 promoted cell growth. However, whole blood expression was not correlated with matched tissues. An elevated expression was seen in neutrophils from CRC patients. Furthermore, high expression of NEAT1_v1 was correlated with worse overall survival. In contrast, high expression of NEAT1_v2 alone was correlated with better overall survival.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Whole blood NEAT1 expression is a novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarker of overall survival in colorectal cancer. Elevated NEAT1 may derive from neutrophils.
authors.affiliation: Department of Colorectal Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center; Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, No. 270 Dong-an Road, Shanghai, 20032, People's Republic of China. antonor123@163.com.
authors.forename: Yuchen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Colorectal Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center; Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, No. 270 Dong-an Road, Shanghai, 20032, People's Republic of China. yanglired1987@163.com.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Colorectal Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center; Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, No. 270 Dong-an Road, Shanghai, 20032, People's Republic of China. 13211230019@fudan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Colorectal Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center; Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, No. 270 Dong-an Road, Shanghai, 20032, People's Republic of China. licong0124@163.com.
authors.forename: Cong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Molecular Virology & Immunology, Unit of Molecular Immunology, Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 320 Yue-yang Road, Shanghai, 20031, People's Republic of China. niejia@sibs.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.affiliation: Department of Colorectal Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center; Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, No. 270 Dong-an Road, Shanghai, 20032, People's Republic of China. 1151231949@qq.com.
authors.forename: Fangqi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Fujian Provincial Cancer Hospital, Teaching Hospital of Fujian Medical University, No. 420 Fu-ma Road, Fuzhou, 350014, People's Republic of China. czhuo12@fudan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Changhua
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhuo
authors.affiliation: Eastern Hepatobiliary Hospital, Second Military Medical University, No. 225 Chang-hai Road, Shanghai, 200438, People's Republic of China. zhengehbh@sina.com.
authors.forename: Yaxin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Molecular Virology & Immunology, Unit of Molecular Immunology, Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 320 Yue-yang Road, Shanghai, 20031, People's Republic of China. binli@sibs.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Shanghai-MOST Key Laboratory of Health and Disease Genomics, Chinese National Human Genome Center and Shanghai Industrial Technology Institute (SITI), No. 250 Bi-bo Road, Shanghai, 201203, People's Republic of China. wangzhm@chgc.sh.cn.
authors.forename: Zhimin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Colorectal Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center; Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, No. 270 Dong-an Road, Shanghai, 20032, People's Republic of China. xu_shirley021@163.com.
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D045325:HCT116 Cells; D006801:Humans; D011379:Prognosis; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C577276:NEAT1 long non-coding RNA, human; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding