Long noncoding RNA signature in predicting metastasis following tamoxifen treatment for ER-positive breast cancer

Abstract

Aim: We aimed to develop a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) expression signature that can predict response to tamoxifen. Materials & methods: LncRNA expression profiling was mined in two cohorts from Gene Expression Omnibus (GSE6532, GSE9195, n = 412). Results: A set of lncRNAs (LINC01191, RP4-639F20.1 and CTC-429P9.3) associated with distant metastasis-free survival was established. Estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer patients in the training series could be classified into high- and low-risk groups with significantly different distant metastasis-free survival values based on this signature (hazard ratio [HR]: 5.11; p = 7.28 × 10-8). The prognostic ability of this signature was confirmed in validation sets 1 (HR: 2.58; p = 1.54 × 10-2) and 2 (HR: 10.06; p = 6.85 × 10-3). Conclusion: The lncRNA signature may have possible clinical implications in the selection of high-risk patients for tamoxifen therapy.