Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China.
Department of Pathology, Anyang Tumor Hospital, Anyang, Henan Province, China.
Pathol Res Pract. 2019 Nov;215(11):152638. doi: 10.1016/j.prp.2019.152638. Epub 2019 Sep 16.
Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is currently considered to play an important regulatory role in various diseases, including tumors, at present a hot topic in research. As a non-coding transcription product of imprinted gene, LncRNA H19 is expressed as a parent imprinted maternal allele without protein-coding ability. Increasing evidence indicates that LncH19 may be a new tumor marker for early clinical diagnosis and prognosis judgment. In this study, LncH19 expression was investigated by RNA in situ hybridization for further exploring the clinicopathological role of its expression in esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC).
121 tumor samples and seven cases of adjacent non-tumor tissues from esophageal cancer patients were detected by RNA in situ hybridization (ISH) and the ISH staining was graded with modified Allred scoring.
While no LncH19 expression in the tumor adjacent to normal epithelia was disclosed with the technology, significantly higher levels of LncH19 expression were detected in the tumors obtained from the patients who died within one year after surgery, compared to the expression in those tumors from the patients who survived longer than five years after the same treatment regimen (P = 0.001). In addition, LncH19 expression was verified to correlate with a larger tumor size (P = 0.002) and a higher UICC stage (P = 0.001).
Our LncH19 ISH data verify the involvement of LncH19 in ESCC. Higher levels of LncH19 expression were not only detected in tumors with larger size and in clinical late stage, but also significantly associated with shorter survival, strongly indicating its clinical significance in the malignant progression of ESCC and useful value as a poor prognostic factor for the patients.
长链非编码 RNA（lncRNA）目前被认为在包括肿瘤在内的各种疾病中发挥重要的调节作用，是当前研究的热点。LncRNA H19 作为印迹基因的非编码转录产物，表达为无蛋白编码能力的亲本印迹母等位基因。越来越多的证据表明，LncH19 可能是早期临床诊断和预后判断的新肿瘤标志物。本研究通过 RNA 原位杂交检测 LncH19 的表达，进一步探讨其在食管鳞状细胞癌（ESCC）中的表达与临床病理的关系。
采用 RNA 原位杂交（ISH）技术检测 121 例食管癌患者肿瘤组织及其癌旁非肿瘤组织标本，采用改良的 Allred 评分法对 ISH 染色结果进行分级。
ISH 技术显示，在肿瘤旁正常上皮组织中无 LncH19 表达，而在手术后一年内死亡的患者肿瘤组织中，LncH19 的表达水平明显高于同一治疗方案后存活 5 年以上的患者（P=0.001）。此外，LncH19 的表达与肿瘤较大的大小（P=0.002）和较高的 UICC 分期（P=0.001）相关。
本研究的 LncH19 ISH 数据证实了 LncH19 参与了 ESCC 的发生。LncH19 的表达水平不仅在肿瘤较大和临床晚期的肿瘤中升高，而且与较短的生存时间显著相关，强烈表明其在 ESCC 的恶性进展中具有重要的临床意义，作为患者不良预后的预测因子具有一定的实用价值。
