Up-regulation of BOK-AS1, FAM215A and FEZF1-AS1 lncRNAs and their potency as moderate diagnostic biomarkers in gastric cancer

Background: Gastric cancer is the fifth most frequent cancer worldwide and the fourth leading cause of death from cancer, a complex multifactorial neoplasm. LncRNAs are regulatory RNA molecules larger than 200 nu-cleotides, which can have profound effects on the oncogenic process of various types of cancer. Therefore, these molecules can be used as diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers. This study aimed to determine the differences in BOK-AS1, FAM215A, and FEZF1-AS1 gene expression between tumor tissue and adjacent healthy non-tumor tissue of gastric cancer (GC) patients.Methods: In this study one hundred pairs of cancerous and non-cancerous marginal tissues were gathered. Next, RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis were achieved for all of the samples. Then, the qRT-PCR was performed to measure the expression of BOK-AS1, FAM215A and FEZF1-AS1 genes.Results: All BOK-AS1, FAM215A and FEZF1-AS1 genes showed significantly increased expression in tumor tissues compared with non-tumor tissues. The outcome of the ROC analysis demonstrated that BOK-AS1, FAM215A, and FEZF1-AS1 may act as mean biomarkers with AUC of 0.7368, 0.7163 and 0.7115, specificity of 64%, 61% and 59%, and sensitivity of 74%, 70%, and 74% respectively.Conclusion: Based on the increased expression of the BOK-AS1, FAM215A and FEZF1-AS1 genes in GC patients, this study suggests that these genes may function as oncogenic factors. Furthermore, the mentioned genes can be considered as intermediate biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer. In addition, no association between these genes and clinicopathological features was observed.

Automated summary

This study investigated the expression differences of BOK-AS1, FAM215A, and FEZF1-AS1 genes between tumor and non-tumor tissues in gastric cancer patients. The results showed that these genes exhibited significantly increased expression in tumor tissues and may function as oncogenic factors. They could also serve as potential biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer.