Prognostic value of lncRNA AFAP1-AS1 in breast cancer: a meta-analysis and validated study in Chinese population

Background: Long non encoding RNA (lncRNA) plays a crucial role in breast cancer. However, the prognostic role of AFAP1-AS1 in breast cancer remains unclear.Aims: To investigate the relationship between the expression of long non-coding RNA actin filament-associated protein1 antisense RNA1 (AFAP1-AS1) and prognosis of breast cancer.Methods and Results: Meta-analysis was performed to explore the correlation between AFAP1-AS1 and breast cancer. The AFAP1-AS1expression in patients with breast cancer tissue and adjacent normal tissue from 153 patients was determined by qRT-PCR. Bioinformatics and Cox proportional-hazards risk model were used to explore the relationship between expression of AFAP1-AS1 and prognosis. The combined analysis revealed a significant correlation between AFAP1-AS1 expression and both overall survival (hazard ratios, HR = 2.33, 95%Cl: 1.94-2.81, p < 0.001) as well as disease-free survival/progression-free survival (HR = 2.94, 95%CI: 2.35-3.67, p < 0.001). The relation between expression of AFAP1-AS1 and breast cancer was determined in 153 breast cancer and adjacent normal tissues. The findings revealed a significantly higher AFAP1-AS1expression levels in breast cancer tissues compared to adjacent normal tissues (p < 0.001). Additionally, patients exhibiting heightened levels of AFAP1-AS1 expression were correlated with an unfavorable prognosis (HR = 2.35, 95%CI: 1.47-3.74, p < 0.001), which aligns consistently with the findings of the pooled analysis. The subgroup analysis of clinical characteristics revealed a significant association between high expression of AFAP1-AS1 and TNM stage (HR = 1.72, 95%CI: 1.11-2.65, p = 0.015).Conclusion: This study demonstrated that AFAP1-AS1 acts as an oncogene and may serve as a novel prognostic marker for breast cancer, particularly in the Chinese population.