Comprehensive Analysis of lncRNA and mRNA Expression Profiles in Lung Cancer.

Background: Lung cancer is one of the most common malignancies across the world. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play an important role in the pathology. This study was to compare the lncRNA and mRNA of lung cancer. The aim of this study was to compare the lncRNA and mRNA expression profiles, their related biological functions, and pathways in lung cancer.

Methods: Human lung cancer mRNA expression datasets were searched and downloaded from NCBI-GEO. LncRNA expression profiles in lung cancer were detected by the Agilent Human LncRNA Microarray V3.0. Differential expression analysis was conducted between cases and controls in mRNA and lncRNA. The starBase web server v2.0 was used to decipher lncRNA-protein interactions. DAVID Bioinformatics Resources 6.7 was used to perform GO Biological Processes and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of these dysregulated mRNA and lncRNA target genes.

Results: The study showed that differentially expressed lncRNA target genes included almost all of the differential expression genes from mRNA. Furthermore, these dysregulated lncRNAs reflected more comprehensive impairment in functional enrichment than dysregulated mRNAs. In addition, five top downregulated lncRNAs had more remarkable fold changes than top downregulated mRNAs, especially FENDRR.

Conclusions: Amount of lncRNAs and mRNAs were differentially expressed in lung cancer. The degrees of difference in lncRNAs were more than mRNAs. It may provide valuable help for an effective strategy in diagnosis and prevention.