Integrative analysis of mRNA and lncRNA profiles identified pathogenetic lncRNAs in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Systems biology approaches can help understand pathogenesis of complex human diseases like cancers for identification of potential new therapeutic targets. Here in this study, we performed genome-wide screening for mRNA and lncRNA profiles in esophageal cancer to identify the novel cancer-related mRNA and lncRNA in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). We identified 1260 up-regulated/1445 down-regulated mRNAs and 402 up-regulated/741 down-regulated lncRNAs. Further functional analysis revealed differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of mRNA and lncRNA are related to different pathways. mRNA pathways are mainly involved in cell cycles while lncRNA pathways are for regulation and metabolic procession. Differentially expressed mRNAs/lncRNAs were validated with qPCR. At last, mRNA and lncRNA co-expression network were built and highly-connected networks were identified, which may provide a mechanism of mRNA expression regulation by lncRNA. In together, we used next generation sequencing data to explore the co-expression networks of lncRNA and mRNA, which may elucidate the functions and mechanisms of lncRNA in ESCC.