Genetic variants in noncoding PIWI-interacting RNA and colorectal cancer risk
Menée en Chine, cette étude cas-témoins évalue l'association entre 7 polymorphismes à simple nucléotide de 9 ARNs interagissant avec les protéines Piwi et le risque de cancer colorectal
BACKGROUND PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), which are a novel type of identified small noncoding RNA (ncRNA), play a crucial role in germline development and carcinogenesis. METHODS By systematically screening all known piRNAs, the authors identified 7 common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 9 piRNAs. Associations between these selected SNPs and the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) were detected in a case-control study. A quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assay was used to evaluate messenger RNA (mRNA) expression levels of piR-015551 and of the long ncRNA (lncRNA) LNC00964-3 in 88 pairs of tissue samples. RESULTS The assay revealed that reference SNP rs11776042 in piR-015551 was significantly associated with a decreased risk of CRC in an additive model (P = .020). However, this protective effect was not significant after correction for multiple comparisons (test for the false discovery rate; P = .140). Furthermore, the authors observed that mRNA expression levels of LNC00964-3 (an lncRNA that included the piR-015551 sequence but not piR-015551) were significantly lower in CRC tissues than in corresponding normal tissues (P = 1.5 × 10−5 for LNC00964-3; P = .899 for piR-015551). Correlation analysis revealed that piR-015551 expression was positively correlated with expression levels of LNC00964-3 (CRC tissues: r = 0.574, P = 5.13 × 10−9; normal tissues: r = 0.601, P = 5.76 × 10−10). Moreover, rs11776042 was not significantly correlated with mRNA expression levels of piR-015551 or LNC00964-3 (all P > .05). CONCLUSIONS The current findings reveal the possibility that piR-015551 may be generated from LNC00964-3, which may be involved in the development of CRC. Cancer 2015. © 2015 American Cancer Society.