Prognostic signatures for renal cancer as identified by long non-coding and miRNA competing endogenous network analysis.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) make up a significant portion of transcripts that are not translated into proteins and lncRNAs were previously thought to be transcriptional noise. Recently, there has been increased interest in lncRNAs due to their diverse functions in human cancers. At present, lncRNAs are considered to be the main component of the competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network due to their regulatory role in protein-coding gene expression by acting as microRNA (miRNA) sponges. However, the function of the lncRNA-mediated ceRNA network in renal cell carcinoma remains unknown. To examine the specific mechanism, we compared the expression profiles of mRNAs, lncRNAs, and miRNAs between renal cell carcinoma tissues and non-tumor normal tissues using the Gene Expression Omnibus database. As a result, 5 lncRNAs were identified as aberrantly expressed and significantly correlated with the tumorigenesis and/or progression of renal cell carcinoma with the threshold value of absolute log2 fold change >1 and corrected P<0.05. Among the 5 dysregulated lncRNAs, 2 of them were prognostic biomarkers according to the overall survival analysis for patients with renal cell carcinoma. We successfully constructed a dysregulated lncRNA-associated ceRNA network, which included 4 renal cell carcinoma‑specific lncRNAs, 17 mRNAs and 2 miRNAs. In summary, the present study identified new lncRNA biomarkers and potential targets for renal cell carcinoma therapy. In particular, the novel ceRNA network identified in our study will be vital for understanding the regulatory mechanisms mediated by lncRNAs in the pathogenesis of renal cell carcinoma.