Open AccessLong non‐coding RNA CRALA is associated with poor response to chemotherapy in primary breast cancer
Author(s) -
Li Yudong,
Wang Baoxiao,
Lai Hongna,
Li Shunying,
You Qiuting,
Fang Yichao,
Li Qian,
Liu Yujie
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
thoracic cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1759-7714
pISSN - 1759-7706
DOI - 10.1111/1759-7714.12487
Subject(s) - breast cancer , medicine , chemotherapy , long non coding rna , oncology , gene knockdown , gene silencing , cancer , biomarker , cancer research , small interfering rna , rna , apoptosis , biology , gene , biochemistry
Background Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women, and has become the second leading cause of cancer death among women worldwide. Chemoresistance has become an important problem in breast cancer clinics. The identification of new mechanisms affecting chemosensitivity is of great clinical value for the treatment of breast cancer. Methods The expression levels of chemoresistance‐associated long non‐coding RNA ( CRALA ), a newly discovered long non‐coding RNA , were measured by quantitative real time‐ PCR in 79 pre‐treatment biopsied primary breast cancer samples. Small interfering RNA s were used to knockdown CRALA expression. The effect of CRALA on chemosensitivity was evaluated using cell growth assay. Results Non‐responding tumors (poor response to chemotherapy, 32 samples) had fourfold higher CRALA expression than responding tumors (good response to chemotherapy, 47 samples). CRALA is upregulated in chemoresistant breast cancer cell lines compared to their parental lines. Silencing of CRALA in chemoresistant breast cancer cells resensitizes the cells to chemotherapy in vitro. Furthermore, univariate and multivariate analysis showed that higher CRALA expression was significantly associated with poor prognosis in 144 breast cancer patients. Conclusion The study findings indicate that CRALA expression may be an important biomarker for predicting the clinical response to chemotherapy and prognosis in breast cancer patients. It is possible to target CRALA to reverse chemoresistance in breast cancer patients.