Prognostic significance of overexpressed long non-coding RNA TUG1 in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma

OBJECTIVE: The long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) study has gradually become one of the hot topics in the field of RNA biology. However, little is known about the pathological role of lncRNA TUG1 in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) patients. This study attempted to investigate the association of lncRNA TUG1 expression with progression and prognosis in ccRCC patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Using qRT-PCR, the expression of TUG1 was measured in 203 ccRCC tissues and 45 adjacent non-cancerous tissues. Then, the relationships between TUG1 level and the clinicopathological factors of patients with ccRCC were analyzed. The prognostic significance was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses. RESULTS: The relative level of TUG1 was significantly higher in ccRCC tissues compared to the adjacent non-tumor tissues (p < 0.01). Furthermore, TUG1 was associated significantly with histological grade, tumor stage, lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis (all p < 0.05). Interestingly, Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that higher TUG1 expression levels were associated with a shorter overall survival (p < 0.001) in ccRCC patients. Cox proportional hazards analysis showed that high TUG1 expression was an independent prognostic marker of poor outcome. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggested that TUG1 may act as a tumor promoter in ccRCC and could serve as a potential therapeutic target for this tumor.