Characterization of ceRNA network to reveal potential prognostic biomarkers in triple-negative breast cancer

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a particular subtype of breast malignant tumor with poorer prognosis than other molecular subtypes. Previous studies have demonstrated that some abnormal expression of non-coding RNAs including microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) were closely related to tumor cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, migration and drug sensitivity. However, the role of non-coding RNAs in the pathogenesis of TNBC is still unclear. In order to characterize the molecular mechanism of non-coding RNAs in TNBC, we downloaded RNA data and miRNA data from the cancer genome atlas database. We successfully identified 686 message RNAs (mRNAs), 26 miRNAs and 50 lncRNAs as key molecules for high risk of TNBC. Then, we hypothesized that the lncRNA–miRNA–mRNA regulatory axis positively correlates with TNBC and constructed a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network of TNBC. Our series of analyses has shown that five molecules (TERT, TRIML2, PHBP4, mir-1-3p, mir-133a-3p) were significantly associated with the prognosis of TNBC, and there is a prognostic ceRNA sub-network between those molecules. We mapped the Kaplan–Meier curve of RNA on the sub-network and also suggested that the expression level of the selected RNA is related to the survival rate of breast cancer. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction showed that the expression level of TRIML2 in TNBC cells was higher than normal. In general, our findings have implications for predicting metastasis, predicting prognosis and discovering new therapeutic targets for TNBC.