Potential use of SCAT1, SCAT2, and SCAT8 as diagnostic and prognosis markers in colorectal cancer

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Despite advancements, the underlying mechanisms controlling CRC's etiology remain unclear, and reliable biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment are still lacking. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are increasingly recognized for their role in cancer progression, though many remain unidentified and their functions poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the expression of SCAT1, SCAT2, and SCAT8 lncRNAs in both cancerous and adjacent non-cancerous tissues from CRC patients. Using cDNA synthesized from total RNA extracted from 100 tissue samples, we performed Real-Time PCR to measure the expression levels of these lncRNAs. In addition, their diagnostic potential was evaluated through ROC curve analysis. Our results demonstrate that SCAT1, SCAT2, and SCAT8 are significantly upregulated in CRC tissues, with ROC analysis suggesting SCAT1 as a moderate biomarker and SCAT2 and SCAT8 as promising biomarkers for CRC diagnosis. Moreover, we found strong correlations between SCAT1 and SCAT8, as well as SCAT2 and SCAT8. Collectively, our findings indicate that SCAT1, SCAT2, and SCAT8 may act as oncogenes in CRC, offering potential as novel biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis.