Upregulation of long noncoding RNA Lnc‐IRF2‐3 and Lnc‐ZNF667‐AS1 is associated with poor survival in B‐chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Nashwa El‐Khazragy, Marwa A. Esmaiel, Magdy M. Mohamed, Nahla S. Hassan
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Lnc-IRF2-3 and Lnc-ZNF667-AS1 were recently studied as a positive biomarker for many tumor cells. However, experimental studies found that they are associated with worse outcomes in B-CLL. METHODS: A prospective case study was conducted on 135 B-CLL patients that were compared to thirty healthy controls. The patients were followed up for 40 months and quantitative measurements of Lnc-IRF2-3 and Lnc-ZNF667-AS1 were measured and compared between the two groups as well as high-risk and low low-risk B-CLL. RESULTS: Lnc-IRF2-3 and Lnc-ZNF667-AS1 had a high specificity (94% and 85%) and sensitivity (85%, 87%), respectively, to differentiate B-CLL from healthy controls. Furthermore, they showed high expression levels in high-risk CLL groups. For survival analysis, there was a negative correlation between overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) and both biomarkers. However, it was not evident in multivariate Cox regression analysis; in patients with Lnc-IRF2-3 expression level, >67 had a significant decrease in OS and PFS. However, there is no significant effect for high expression levels of Lnc-ZNF667-AS1 on OS (P = .16) or PFS (P = .48). CONCLUSION: The Lnc-IRF2-3 and Lnc-ZNF667-AS1 are promising prognostic biomarkers in B-CLL.