Investigation of LINC00342 as a poor prognostic biomarker for human patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Cyclic long noncoding RNAs have recently become major players in cancer biology and can serve as biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and prognosis, and as potential therapeutic targets. We explored circulating LINC00342 as a predictor of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The expression of LINC00342 in tissues, serum, PBMC, and NSCLC cell lines were screened by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction. A multistage validation and risk score formula detection analysis was used. The effect of LINC00342 on proliferation was assessed by MTT, p53, and PTEN pathways, which were analyzed by Western blot analysis. We found that LINC00342 was upregulated in the tissues, serum, and PBMC of patients with NSCLC. In addition, patients with higher LINC00342 expression levels were associated with poor overall survival. For the diagnosis of NSCLC, the specificity and sensitivity of LINC00342 were significantly higher than that of CYFRA 21-1. Moreover, LINC00342 promoted proliferation by inhibiting the expression of p53 and PTEN proteins in NSCLC cell lines. Our study demonstrates that LINC00342 is involved in the development, and LINC00342 may be a potential diagnostic factor and a target for new therapies for future patients with NSCLC.