Circular RNA_0001946 is insufficiently expressed in tumor tissues, while its higher expression correlates with less lymph node metastasis, lower TNM stage, and improved prognosis in NSCLC patients

摘要

Objective Circular RNA_0001946 (circ_0001946) inhibits tumor progression but promotes chemosensitivity in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC); however, its correlation with tumor features and prognosis in NSCLC patients is still unclear; therefore, this study aimed to investigate these issues. Methods A total of 284 NSCLC patients were retrospectively analyzed. Circ_0001946 expression in tumor (n?=?284) and adjacent (n?=?125) tissues was detected by the reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Meanwhile, patients’ clinical characteristics, recurrence, and survival data were extracted from the electrical database. Results Circ_0001946 expression in adjacent tissues was over 3-folds as that in tumor tissues ( P ?.001). Meanwhile, higher tumor circ_0001946 expression was correlated with less lymph node metastasis ( P ?.001) and decreased TNM stage ( P =?.001), but did not correlate with other clinicopathological features. Moreover, higher tumor circ_0001946 expression was associated with prolonged disease-free survival (DFS) ( P ?.001) and overall survival (OS) ( P ?.001), respectively. Subgroup analyses revealed that higher tumor circ_0001946 was correlated with improved DFS in patients with TNM stage I, II, or III, respectively (all P ?.05), while only correlated with prolonged OS in patients with TNM stage III ( P =?.037), but not in patients with TNM stage I or II. Further multivariate Cox's proportional hazard regression analyses suggested that higher tumor circ_0001946 expression could independently predict improved DFS ( P ?.001, hazard ratio (HR)?=?0.719) and OS ( P ?.001, HR?=?0.746), respectively. Conclusion Circ_0001946 is insufficiently expressed in tumor tissues, whereas its higher expression correlates with less lymph node metastasis, reduced TNM stage, and improved prognosis in NSCLC patients.