Evaluation of UGDH-AS1 lncRNA expression as a new diagnostic and therapeutic target in thyroid cancer tissues

Abstract

Thyroid cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide, especially among women. The role of non-coding RNAs, including lncRNAs, in the development of various diseases, especially cancer, has been reported. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the level of lncRNA UGDH-AS1 gene expression in cancerous and healthy thyroid tissues. Materials and methods: At first, 20 thyroid cancer tissues and 20 adjacent healthy tissue samples were taken from thyroid cancer patients with written consent. Also, their clinical and pathological characteristics were determined by the pathologist. RNA related to the samples was extracted and after checking and confirming their quality and concentration, cDNA was synthesized. In the following, the expression of lncRNA UGDH-AS1 in the samples was measured by real-time PCR method and its relationship with clinical and pathological characteristics was investigated. Also, the expression of lncRNA UGDH-AS1 was bioinformatically evaluated using TCGA database data in thyroid cancer samples compared to the samples obtained. Finally, statistical calculations were performed to determine the biomarker power of this lncRNA. Results: The results of the study showed that by examining the expression level of the UGDH-AS1 lncRNA gene among two cancer and healthy groups, the expression level of this gene has decreased significantly, which indicates the potential role of the decrease in the expression of this lncRNA in causing and the development of thyroid cancer. Also, the results indicated that the expression of this lncRNA is related to tumor stages and its high potential as a diagnostic target for thyroid cancer. To confirm it, it is necessary to develop a study in a larger population as a statistical population.