Evaluation of HOTAIR and HOXC13 Genes in Tumor And Normal Tissues Adjacent to Tumor in Patients with Esophageal Cancer

Abstract

Background and Objectives One of the molecules that associated with cancer progression are Long non coding RNA (LncRNAs). HOX transcript antisense RNA (HOTAIR) is a member of the lncRNA family. Homeobox C13 (HOXC13) gene is one of the several HOX genes that is located near the HOTAIR. This study was to evaluate the expression of HOTAIR and HOXC13 genes in tumor and normal tissues adjacent to tumor in patients with esophageal cancer. Methods This is an experimental study. 30 pairs of esophageal tumor tissue and tumor margin tissue were purchased. RNA of these tissues was extracted and Real-time PCR with Beta-actin gene was used for their relative expression. Statistical analysis of data, t-test and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed in GraphPad Prism 8 software. Results Comparison of target gene expression in esophageal tumor samples relative to tumor margins showed that the relative expression of the HOTAIR genes was 1.95 time (P=0.0219) and the HOXC13 14.4 time (P=0.014) significantly increased expression. Also, the HOXC13 gene expression shows a significant relationship with metastasis to distant regions, type and degree of tumor. The correlation coefficient between the relative expression of the HOTAIR and the HOXC13 genes was 0.152. It was positive but not significant between the two genes (P=0.2). Conclusion According to the association of the HOTAIR and the HOXC13 genes with cancer, our study may partially express the role of these two genes in the tumorigenesis process in the development of esophageal cancer.