HOTAIR is a predictive and prognostic biomarker for patients with advanced gastric adenocarcinoma receiving fluorouracil and platinum combination chemotherapy

Accumulating evidence suggests that long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) HOTAIR participates in many types of cancer such as gastric cancer and may confer malignant phenotype to tumor cells. Fluorouracil and platinum combination chemotherapy is the first line therapy for gastric cancer. However, it is still unknown whether HOTAIR influences the outcome of cancer patients treated with chemotherapy. This study aimed to evaluate the association of HOTAIR expression with the prognosis of patients with advanced gastric adenocarcinoma (GA) receiving fluorouracil and platinum based chemotherapy. We examined the levels of HOTAIR in 168 GA samples using quantitative realtime PCR and analyzed its relationship with clinical features and prognosis of patients with advanced GA treated with fluorouracil and platinum based chemotherapy. Compared with paracancerous tissues, HOTAIR was significantly upregulated in GA tissues, especially in more advanced cases. High HOTAIR expression was an independent poor prognostic factor for patients with advanced GA. Further stratification analyses revealed that the association between HOTAIR expression and survival in patients with advanced GA remained significant in the subgroup of patients with TNM stages IIIA and IIIB, poorly differentiated, and smaller tumors. In conclusion, our results provide first evidence that HOTAIR may be served as a biomarker that predicts which patient with advanced GA will benefit from fluorouracil and platinum combination chemotherapy.