Plasma lncRNA FEZF1-AS1 as a potential biomarker for diagnosis of non-small-cell lung carcinoma

Diagnosis of numerous cancers has been closely linked to the expression of certain long non-coding RNAs. This study aimed to evaluate levels of plasma FEZ family zinc finger 1 antisense RNA 1 (FEZF1-AS1) relative to non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) diagnosis. The level of FEZF1-AS1 in the blood plasma of 126 NSCLC patients and 62 healthy controls was examined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Plasma FEZF1-AS1 of the NSCLC group was increased compared with that in the control group (P < .0001). Plasma FEZF1-AS1 could distinguish patients with NSCLC from healthy individuals via the area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.855 (95% CI = 0.800–0.909; P = .000). FEZF1-AS1 combined with neuron-specific enolase increased the area under the (ROC) curve to 0.932 (95% CI = 0.897–0.968; P = .018). A high expression level of plasma FEZF1-AS1 was associated with some clinical features of NSCLC. Increased expression of FEZF1-AS1 greatly improved the risk of NSCLC (adjusted OR = 2.42; 95% CI = 1.23–4.76). A significant concentration–dependent relationship was noted between risk of NSCLC and higher FEZF1-AS1 expression (P for trend <.001). Plasma FEZF1-AS1 could potentially be used as a biomarker for NSCLC diagnosis.