Long non-coding RNA ROR is a novel prognosis factor associated with non-small-cell lung cancer progression.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to determine the expression levels of long intergenic non-protein coding RNA, regulator of reprogramming (linc-ROR) in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and to further explore the prognostic value of this lncRNA.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: In our investigation, we determined the expression of linc-ROR in human NSCLC tissues and matched normal lung tissues by quantitative Real-time-PCR analysis. Also, correlations between linc-ROR expression and the clinicopathological features were evaluated. Survival curves were plotted using the Kaplan-Meier method and differences in survival rates were analyzed using the log-rank test. Cox regression analyses were performed to explore the effect of linc-ROR as an independent predictor of survival.

RESULTS: We found that linc-ROR had high expression in NSCLC specimens than that in matched adjacent normal lung tissues (p < 0.01). In addition, higher linc-ROR expression levels were positively correlated with advanced TNM stage (p = 0.007), positive distant metastasis (p = 0.001) and LN metastasis (p = 0.011). Furthermore, significantly shorter 5-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were observed in patients with higher expression of linc-ROR (both p < 0.001). In a multivariate Cox model, it was found that linc-ROR expression was an independent prognostic factor for both 5-years OS (p = 0.001) and 5-year DFS (p = 0.001) in NSCLC.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that linc-ROR plays an oncogenic role in NSCLC development and may function as a prognostic and predictive biomarker for NSCLC.