Increased expression of the lncRNA PVT1 is associated with poor prognosis in pancreatic cancer patients.

AIM: Long non-coding RNA PVT1 (lncRNA PVT1) has been identified and it plays an oncogenic role in various human cancers. However, its roles in pancreatic cancer remain unclear. The aim of this paper was to explore the PVT1 expression levels and relationship with survival of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and to establish the significance of PVT1 in the development and progression of PDAC.

METHODS: In this study, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed to analyze the expression levels of lncRNA PVT1 in paired PDAC and adjacent nontumor tissues. The association of PVT1 expression with clinicopathological features was analyzed. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed to analyze the association of PVT1 expression with overall survival rate of patients with PDAC. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were carried out to analyze the prognostic significance of PVT1 expression.

RESULTS: The study results showed that the PVT1 expression was significantly increased in PDAC tissues compared to adjacent nontumor tissues. The expression of PVT1 was associated with clinical stage and N-classification (P<0.05). Patients with high PVT1 expression level had shorter overall survival times compared to those with low PVT1 expression level (P<0.05). Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses suggested that PVT1 might be an independent prognostic factor for poor overall survival rate in patients with PDAC.

CONCLUSION: The study findings suggested that the increased expression of lncRNA PVT1 in PDAC was correlated with tumor progression, and PVT1 might be a potential molecular biomarker for predicting the prognosis of patients with PDAC.