Clinical significance of the expression of long non-coding RNA PVT1 in glioma

BACKGROUND: Glioma is the most common primary malignant tumor in the nervous system. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of long non-coding RNA Pvt1 oncogene (PVT1) in glioma and its clinical significance. METHODS: The expression levels of PVT1 were determined in 59 glioma and 10 normal tissue samples using qRT-PCR. The patients were divided into high and low expression groups and analyzed for their relationship with clinicopathological factors and the survival time using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: The expression levels of PVT1 were significantly higher in glioma tissues than in normal tissues (p < 0.01) and higher in high grade (III-IV) than in low grade (I-II) tumors (p < 0.01). Analysis showed that the PVT1 level was closely related to glioma grade (p < 0.01), but not to age, gender, Karnofsky performance status (KPS) and tumor size (p > 0.05). Receiver operator characteristic curve analysis showed an area under the curve of 0.835. Log-rank test showed that the prognosis of high PVT1 group was poorer than that of low PVT1 group (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: PVT1 is highly expressed in gliomas and its level is positively related to WHO glioma grade and prognosis of gliomas. Therefore, it may be explored as a new molecular marker for predicting malignancy and prognosis of gliomas.