Abstract
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) carries a high potential for metastasis and immune escape, with a great risk of relapse after primary treatment. Through analysis of whole genome expression profiling data in NPC samples, we found that the expression of a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), actin filament-associated protein 1 antisense RNA 1 (AFAP1-AS1), is significantly correlated with the immune escape marker programmed death 1 (PD-1). We therefore assessed the expression of AFAP1-AS1 and PD-1 in a cohort of 96 paraffin-embedded NPC samples and confirmed that AFAP1-AS1 and PD-1 are co-expressed in infiltrating lymphocytes in NPC tissue. Moreover, patients with high expression of AFAP1-AS1 or PD-1 in infiltrating lymphocytes were more prone to distant metastasis, and NPC patients with positive expression of both AFAP1-AS1 and PD-1 had the poorest prognosis. This study suggests that AFAP1-AS1 and PD-1 may be potential therapeutic targets in NPC and that patients with co-expression of AFAP1-AS1 and PD-1 may be ideal candidates for future clinical trials of anti-PD-1 immune therapy.
Highlights
Long non-coding RNAs are a group of RNA transcripts that exceed 200 nt in length yet lack significant open reading frames (ORFs) [1]
Through analysis of whole genome expression profiling data in Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) samples, we found that the expression of a long non-coding RNA, actin filament-associated protein 1 antisense RNA 1 (AFAP1-AS1), is significantly correlated with the immune escape marker programmed death 1 (PD-1)
We assessed the expression of AFAP1-AS1 and PD-1 in a cohort of 96 paraffin-embedded NPC samples and confirmed that AFAP1-AS1 and PD1 are co-expressed in infiltrating lymphocytes in NPC tissue
Summary
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a group of RNA transcripts that exceed 200 nt in length yet lack significant open reading frames (ORFs) [1]. We performed gene expression profile (GEP) analysis by microarray and found that one lncRNA named actin filament-associated protein 1 antisense RNA1 (AFAP1-AS1) was significantly upregulated in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), and promoted invasion and metastasis of cancer cells by regulating the expression www.impactjournals.com/oncotarget of several small GTPase family members and molecules in the actin cytokeratin signaling pathway [18]. It is not yet known whether there is any other biological function of AFAP1-AS1 in the tumorigenesis of NPC
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