Evaluation of expression of vitamin D receptor related lncRNAs in lung cancer

Lung cancer as the most common cancer in the world is associated with high rate of mortality. Previous studies have detected expression of vitamin D receptor (VDR) in lung cancer tissues and reported significant of this gene in determination of patients' survival. Methods: In the current study, we assessed expression of VDR and five long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) which have been associated with VDR (MALAT1, SNHG16, SNHG6, LINC00346, LINC00511) in 32 pairs of lung cancer tissues and adjacent non-cancerous tissues (ANCTs) using real time PCR method. Expression of VDR was significantly decreased in tumor tissues obtained from male patients compared with their matched ANCTs (ER = 0.31, P value = 0.02). However, this pattern was not detected in female subjects (ER = 0.93, P value = 0.94). Expression of LINC00346 was significantly decreased in tumoral tissues compared with ANCTs (Expression ratio (ER) = 0.38, P value = 0.03). When evaluating expression of this lncRNA based on the sex of patients, differences in its expression was only significant among males (ER = 0.3, P value = 0.04). VDR expression was significantly associated with sex of patients in a way that most male patients exhibited down-regulation of this gene in their tumor tissue samples compared with the paired ANCTs (P = 0.03). Expression levels of LINC00346 could discriminate lung cancer tissues from ANCTs with sensitivity of 83.3% and specificity of 52.4%. Correlations between expressions of SNHG6 and other genes were all significant in tumoral tissues but insignificant in ANCTs. The current investigation potentiates VDR and LINC00346 as possible participants in the pathogenesis of lung cancer.