Increased expression of lncRNA ZEB1-AS1 in non-small cell lung cancer is associated with poor prognosis

Background: Dysregulated long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play critical roles in tumorigenesis and tumor progression. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between lncRNA ZEB1-AS1 expression and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis. Methods: Expression levels of lncRNA ZEB1-AS1 in 183 NSCLC specimens were determined by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). To clarify the clinical significance of lncRNA ZEB1-AS1 in NSCLC, we further explored the relationship between lncRNA ZEB1-AS1 expression and overall survival (OS). Results: In the present study, we found that lncRNA ZEB1-AS1 was upregulated in NSCLC tissues compared to adjacent non-tumor tissues. In addition, upregulated lncRNA ZEB1-AS1 expression was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis and TNM stage (P<0.05). Furthermore, patients with increased expression of lncRNA ZEB1-AS1 had poor OS (HR=3.202, 95% CI=2.018-5.078, P<0.001). Multivariate Cox proportional hazards model analysis demonstrated that high lncRNA ZEB1-AS1 expression was an independent poor prognostic factor for NSCLC patients. Conclusion: Our study suggests that increased expression of lncRNA ZEB1-AS1 is related to adverse prognosis of NSCLC and may be a new prognostic biomarker and potential therapeutic target for NSCLC intervention.