A new avenue for obtaining insight into the functional characteristics of long noncoding RNAs associated with estrogen receptor signaling.

ABSTRACT: Estrogen receptor signalling plays important regulatory roles in multiple mammalian physiological processes. Dysregulation of estrogen receptor (ER) expression and/or its associated signalling pathway is strongly associated with the development, progression, transition, and endocrine-resistance of breast cancer. Non-coding transcripts are essential regulators of almost every level of gene regulation. However, few long non-coding transcripts (lncRNAs) associated with the estrogen receptor signalling pathway have been well-described. We used array-based methods to identify 33 estrogen receptor agitation-related (ERAR) lncRNAs. A coding-non-coding gene co-expression network analysis suggested that 15 ERAR lncRNAs were associated with mitosis, DNA damage, and DNA repair. Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that five ERAR lncRNAs selected using the Random Forest-Recursive Feature Elimination algorithm were significantly correlated with endocrine resistance-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival as well as disease free survival. Our results suggest that ERAR lncRNAs may serve as novel biomarkers for guiding breast cancer treatment and prognosis. Furthermore, our findings reveal a new avenue by which estrogen receptor signalling can be further explored.

SUBMITTER: Wu L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4991000 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature