Microarray Analysis of the Expression Profile of Long Non-Coding RNAs Indicates lncRNA RP11-263F15.1 as a Biomarker for Diagnosis and Prognostic Prediction of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a devastating malignancy with poor prognostic outcomes. Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play an important role in the development and progression of carcinogenesis. Nevertheless, little is known about the role of lncRNAs in PDAC. The aim of the current study was to find differentially expressed lncRNAs and related mRNAs in human PDAC tissues and adjacent normal tissues by microarray analysis, and investigate the relationship between lncRNA RP11-263F15.1 levels and the clinicaopathological features of PDAC patients. It was found that 4364 lncRNAs and 4862 related mRNAs were significantly dysregulated in PDAC tissues as compared with adjacent normal tissues with a fold change ≥2.0 (P<0.05). GO and pathway analyses showed that the up-regulated gene profiles were related to several pathways associated with carcinogenesis, while the down-regulated gene profiles were closely correlated with nutrient metabolism. RP11-263F15.1 levels were associated with histologic differentiation (P=0.001). Besides, Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that high expression of RP11-263F15.1 was associated with poor outcomes, but multivariate analysis suggested that RP11-263F15.1 was not an independent factor for predicting prognosis of PDAC. In conclusion, these data indicate that differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs were involved in the carcinogenesis of PDAC, and RP11-263F15.1 may prove to be a potential biomarker for the diagnosis and prognostic prediction of PDAC.