Integrated analysis of dysregulated long non-coding RNAs/microRNAs/mRNAs in metastasis of lung adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND: Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), largely remains a primary cause of cancer-related death worldwide. The molecular mechanisms in LUAD metastasis have not been completely uncovered. METHODS: In this study, we identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs), miRNAs (DEMs) and lncRNAs (DELs) underlying metastasis of LUAD from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. Intersection mRNAs were used to perform gene ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway and co-expression network analysis. In addition, survival analyses of intersection mRNAs were conducted. Finally, intersection mRNAs, miRNAs and lncRNAs were subjected to construct miRNA-mRNA-lncRNA network. RESULTS: A total of 1015 DEGs, 54 DEMs and 22 DELs were identified in LUAD metastasis and non-metastasis samples. GO and KEGG pathway analysis had proven that the functions of intersection mRNAs were closely related with many important processes in cancer pathogenesis. Among the co-expression interactions network, 22 genes in the co-expression network were over the degree 20. These genes imply that they have connections with many other gene nodes. In addition, 14 target genes (ARHGAP11A, ASPM, HELLS, PRC1, TMPO, ARHGAP30, CD52, IL16, IRF8, P2RY13, PRKCB, PTPRC, SASH3 and TRAF3IP3) were found to be associated with survival in patients with LUAD significantly (log-rank P < 0.05). Two lncRNAs (LOC96610 and ADAM6) acting as ceRNAs were identified based on the miRNA-mRNA-lncRNA network. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, the results may provide a novel perspective to develop a multiple gene diagnostic tool for LUAD prognosis, which might also provide potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets for LUAD. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12967-018-1732-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.