Altered expression of DLG1-AS1 distinguished papillary thyroid carcinoma from benign thyroid nodules

BACKGROUND: Benign thyroid nodules (BTN) are frequently diagnosed as papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), leading to unnecessary treatment. We found that plasma lncRNA DLG1-AS1 was upregulated in PTC patients but not in BTN patients and healthy controls. METHODS: In this study DLG1-AS1 and miR-199a-3p in plasma of both PTC patients and BTN patients were detected by qPCR. ROC curve analysis was performed for diagnostic analysis. Overexpression experiments were performed to analyze the interaction between DLG1-AS1 and miR-199a-3p. CCK-8 assay was performed to analyze cell proliferation. RESULTS: In this study, upregulation of DLG1-AS1 distinguished PTC patients from BTN patients and healthy controls. Plasma miR-199a-3p was downregulated in PTC patients compared with healthy controls and BTN patients. Plasma levels of miR-199a-3p were inversely correlated in PTC patients, but not in BTN patients and healthy controls. miR-199a-3p overexpression failed to significantly affect DLG1-AS1, while DLG1-AS1 overexpression resulted in downregulated miR-199a-3p, In addition, DLG1-AS1 overexpression promoted the proliferation of PTC cells. miR-199a-3p overexpression played an opposite role and attenuated the effects of DLG1-AS1 overexpression. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, DLG1-AS1 may promote PTC by downregulating miR-199a-3p.