Expression of the long noncoding RNA RP11‐169D4.1‐001 in Hypopharyngeal Squamous cell carcinoma tissue and its clinical significance

BACKGROUND: Increased research efforts have demonstrated that lncRNAs are associated with multiple head and neck tumors and play important roles in cancer. We previously found that RP11‐169D4.1‐001 plays a tumor‐suppressive role in laryngeal cancer, but its function in human hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HSCC) remains unknown. Thus, this research aimed to analyze the relationship between RP11‐169D4.1‐001 expression and HSCC clinicopathological features. METHODS: Real‐time quantitative reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR) was used to detect the expression of RP11‐169D4.1‐001 in 70 pairs of HSCC and adjacent normal tissues. RESULTS: The expression level of RP11‐169D4.1‐001 in HSCC tissues was significantly lower than that in adjacent normal tissues (P = .001). The expression of RP11‐169D4.1‐001 had no significant relationship with tumor differentiation, stage, smoking, drinking, age, tumor location, or treatment. RP11‐169D4.1‐001 expression was associated with T category (P = .008) and lymph node metastasis (P = .001). Survival data were assessed by Kaplan‐Meier curves. Patients with high RP11‐169D4.1‐001 expression were found to have a shorter overall survival than patients with low RP11‐169D4.1‐001 expression. Multivariate analysis also indicated that target RNA was an independent factor for prognosis. The ROC curve was constructed to clarify the diagnostic value of RP11‐169D4.1‐001. CONCLUSIONS: RP11‐169D4.1‐001 may serve as a new biomarker and potential drug target and can be used as a new biomarker and a potential drug target for the detection and treatment of hypopharyngeal cancer, respectively. Furthermore, RP11‐169D4.1‐001 expression may be an independent prognostic factor affecting the survival of hypopharyngeal cancer patients.