Evaluating the changes in the expression levels of lncRNA LINC00922 in thyroid cancer tissues as diagnostic biomarker

Abstract

Thyroid cancer is considered the most common malignancy among endocrine gland cancers in the neck region and is responsible for more than 3% of all human cancers. Epidemiological studies have shown a global increase in the prevalence of this disease in recent years, affecting a wide range of people, from children to the elderly, with a higher incidence in women. Uncontrolled growth of thyroid cells leads to the development of cancer in this area. Studies have shown that changes in the expression of lncRNAs are associated with various types of cancer. Methods: In this study, 25 thyroid cancer tissues and 25 adjacent healthy tissue samples were collected from patients with thyroid cancer at Imam Reza Hospital in Tabriz. Their clinical and pathological characteristics were determined and identified by a pathologist. Subsequently, RNA was extracted from the samples, and after assessing and confirming their quality and concentration, cDNA synthesis was performed. The expression of the lncRNA LINC00922 in the samples was measured using the real-time PCR method, and its correlation with clinical and pathological features was examined. Additionally, the expression of LINC00922 lncRNA was bioinformatically evaluated using data from the TCGA database in thyroid cancer samples compared to healthy samples to validate the obtained results. Finally, statistical calculations were performed to determine the biomarker power of these lncRNAs. Findings: The findings of this study indicate that the expression of the non-coding gene LINC00922 has shown a significant increase in thyroid cancer tissue samples, but it does not show specific expression changes when compared to different pathological characteristics.