A potential panel of six-long non-coding RNA signature to improve survival prediction of diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) represent an emerging layer of cancer biology and have been implicated in the development and progression of cancers. However, the prognostic significance of lncRNAs in diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) remains unclear and needs to be systematically investigated. In this study, we obtained and analyzed lncRNA expression profiles in three cohorts of 1043 DLBCL patients by repurposing the publicly available microarray datasets from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. In the discovery series of 207 patients, we identified a set of six lncRNAs that was significantly associated with patients’ overall survival (OS) using univariate Cox regression analysis. The six prognostic lncRNAs were combined to form an expression-based six-lncRNA signature which classified patients of the discovery series into the high-risk group and low-risk group with significantly different survival outcome (HR = 2.31, 95% CI = 1.8 to 2.965, p < 0.001). The six-lncRNA signature was further confirmed in the internal testing series and two additional independent datasets with different array platform. Moreover, the prognostic value of the six-lncRNA signature is independent of conventional clinical factors. Functional analysis suggested that six-lncRNA signature may be involved with DLBCL through exerting their regulatory roles in known cancer-related pathways, immune system and signaling molecules interaction.