Transcriptome Analysis of lncRNA-mRNA Interactions in the Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract As a serious malignancy with high incidence and fatality, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has affected millions of people each year worldwide. However, the 5-year survival rate of NSCLC is still not satisfactory. Therefore, it is particularly imperative and necessary to explore the underlying molecular mechanisms of NSCLC to contribute to the potential therapeutic targets and strategies. Six clinical samples including three normal tissues and three cancer tissues obtained from patients diagnosed with NSCLC were sequenced through Illumina Hiseq2500 sequencer. Differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs analysis were implemented using the edgeR, and the function of differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs were analyzed with GO and KEGG enrichment analysis. Then, top 10 dysregulated lncRNAs and mRNAs were screened out. Finally, the co-expression, biological function and pathway networks of dysregulated lncRNA with the predicted target genes were constructed. Differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs could distinguish cancerous tissues from normal tissues. The functions and KEGG pathway of differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs mainly were enriched in immune response, metabolism, phagosome, cytokine receptor interaction and IL-17 signaling pathway. The co-expression network revealed that top ten dysregulated lncRNAs were interacted with IGH gene cluster. Furthermore, the biological function and pathway network also indicated that dysregulated lncRNAs were involved in immune process. The results demonstrated that the biologic function of dysregulated lncRNAs that may be involved in immune process. Our data provides a foundation of the biologic significances of lncRNAs to contribute to the therapeutic targets and strategies for NSCLC to promote the survival for patients.