The levels of circulating long non-coding RNA GAS5 in prostate cancer patients: Single center study

Abstract

Background/Aim. Prostate cancer (PCa) is second occurring carcinoma that affect males population. Although PCa incidence rates are high, most cases has favorable prognosis, with comfortable long term life quality. This study was aimed to assess distinction of lncRNA GAS5 plasma levels between healthy individuals and patients with PCa, and also between PCa patients with different prognostic scores. Methods. The present study included a total of 40 patients with PCa and a control group of 20 healthy individuals. PCa patients were divided into two subgroups (20 patients each) based on the prognostic criteria of American Joint Committee on Cancer. The patient data were collected and analysed. GAS5 levels were quantified using Real-time PCR metod. Statistical analysis was conducted using the IBM SPSS Statistics 26.0 computer program (IBM, USA, 2019). Results. The relative quantification of GAS5 expression levels shows downregulation in PCa patients compared to healthy individuals, however the difference was marginaly statistically significant (p = 0.056). With further analysis of the given results, we have concluded that the expression level of GAS5 was not significantly different in the first patient subgroup and the healthy individuals (p = 0.268). Patients from second subgroup had significantly lower plasma levels of GAS5 than healthy individuals (p = 0.033). Levels of GAS5 expression between patients with favorable prognosis (Group 1) than in the patients with worse prognostic score (Group 2), did not indicate the statistical significance (p = 0.275). In both Group 1 (p = 0.805) and Group 2 (p = 0.454), the plasma levels of GAS5 were not significantly different in comparing to the age (? 65 vs > 65 years). Conclusion. One of the main objective in PCa researching is identifying novel and more efficient biomarkers. Conducted research provides strong evidence about the significance of lncRNAs in PCa, as well as the correlation of decreased expression of GAS5 and poor prognosis in various tumours.