Evaluation of the expression and clinical value of lncRNA AC010761.9 in human gastric adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND: The current study determined the expression and clinical value of lncRNA AC010761.9 in human gastric adenocarcinoma (GA). METHODS: Real-time quantitative reverse transcription (qRT)-PCR was used to detect the level of lncRNA expression in 145 GA tissues and three GA cell lines, and the correlation between its level and clinicopathologic characteristics and potential corresponding mRNA of TNF receptor-associated factor 4 gene (TRAF4) was then evaluated. RESULTS: Elevated lncRNA AC010761.9 was detected in all 6 GA tissues by previous lncRNA expression profile microarray assay. LncRNA AC010761.9 was over-expressed in 99 of 145 GA tissues (68.3%) with an elevated fold change of up to 35.14 compared to matched paracancerous tissues (p < 0.05), and was also over-expressed in the 3 GA cell lines (MGC803, BGC823, and SGC7901) compared to the normal gastric mucosal epithelial cell line (GES-1 cells; p < 0.05) by qRT-PCR. The elevated expression of this lncRNA was related to tumor size (p = 0.028), degree of differentiation (p = 0.047), and serum carbohydrate antigen (CA19-9) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) concentrations (p = 0.026 and p = 0.037, respectively). Multivariate analysis further confirmed that the expression of lncRNA AC010761.9 was related to the degree of tumor differentiation (p = 0.015). Additionally, the expression of lncRNA AC010761.9 had a positive correlation with the mRNA expression of the potentially associated gene (TRAF4) in GA tissues (r = 0.385, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: LncRNA AC010761.9 may be linked to GA progression and is a potential new biomarker for GA. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12957-017-1289-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.