PCAT6 may be a new prognostic biomarker in various cancers: a meta-analysis and bioinformatics analysis

Yu-ping Yang,Shi-yi Gong,Qing-hao Cheng,Song-bo Shi,Qi Cui,Shi-fang Guo,Ting-ting Lu,Shao-ming Song,Yao-wen Qian,Ke-hu Yang

doi:10.1186/s12935-021-02079-4

Abstract

BackgroundLncRNA prostate cancer-associated transcript 6 (PCAT6) has been reported to be dysregulated in several cancers and is associated with tumor progression. Here, we have performed a meta-analysis to assess the general prognostic role of PCAT6 in malignancies.MethodsFour public databases (Embase, Pubmed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library) were used to identify eligible studies, then data was extracted and associations between prognostic indicators and clinical characteristics were combined to estimate hazard ratio (HR) or odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). Publication bias was measured using the Begg's test, and the stability of the combined results was measured using sensitivity analysis. Subsequently, results were validated using Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) and the National Genomics Data Center (NGDC).ResultsTen studies were considered eligible for inclusion. In total, 937 patients and eight types of cancer were included. Our results revealed that overexpression of PCAT6 was significantly associated with a shorter OS (HR = 1.82; 95% CI, [1.40, 2.38]; P < 0.0001) and progression-free survival (PFS) (HR = 1.66; 95% CI, [1.22, 2.25]; P < 0.0001) in cancer patients, and that PCAT6 overexpression was significantly associated with individual tumor clinicopathological parameters, including TNM stage (OR = 0.29; 95% CI, [0.09, 0.94]; P = 0.04), gender (OR = 1.84; 95% CI, [1.31, 2.59]; P = 0.0005), and whether the tumor was metastatic (OR = 5.02; 95% CI, [1.36, 18.57]; P = 0.02). However, PCAT6 overexpression was not correlated with patient age and tumor differentiation. PCAT6 expression was significantly up-regulated in four types of cancer, which was validated using the GEPIA cohort. Combining OS and disease-free survival (DFS) of these four types of cancer revealed a shorter OS and DFS in patients with PCAT6 overexpression. PCAT6 expression in various types of cancer was also validated in NGDC. A total of eight cancers were analyzed and PCAT6 was highly expressed in all eight cancers. Further functional predictions suggest that PCAT6 is correlated with tumor prognosis, and that PCAT6 may be useful as a new tumor-specific marker.ConclusionsLncRNA PCAT6 is highly expressed in multiple cancer types and its upregulation was significantly associated with patient prognosis and poorer clinical features, thereby suggesting that PCAT6 may be a novel prognostic factor in multiple cancer types.

Highlights

Cancer is ranked globally as a leading cause of death and a significant barrier to increasing life expectancy
LncRNA prostate cancer-associated transcript 6 (PCAT6) is highly expressed in multiple cancer types and its upregulation was significantly asso‐ ciated with patient prognosis and poorer clinical features, thereby suggesting that PCAT6 may be a novel prognostic factor in multiple cancer types
One article was excluded because data could not be extracted, seven articles were excluded because patient information was missing, and five articles were excluded because the experiments were performed on cells only

Summary

Introduction

Cancer is ranked globally as a leading cause of death and a significant barrier to increasing life expectancy. In China, an estimated 4.51 million cancer cases and 3.04 million cancer-related deaths were reported in 2020 [3]. One of the main reasons for this poor overall prognosis is the lack of specific markers for tumor diagnosis; when a patient is diagnosed with cancer, it has usually progressed to the middle and late stages [4]. The search for specific tumor markers is of great importance in cancer diagnosis. Biological markers (‘Biomarkers’) play an increasingly important role in determining risk and detecting existing early-stage cancers or precancerous lesions [5]. These biomarkers can be biological indicators of normal biological processes, pathogenic processes, or pharmacological responses to therapeutic interventions. We have performed a meta-analysis to assess the general prognostic role of PCAT6 in malignancies

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