LINC0638 lncRNA is involved in the local recurrence of melanoma following surgical resection

Abstract

Melanoma is a rare malignancy in China and the treatment outcomes are generally satisfactory. However, postoperative recurrence can be life-threatening. The current study aimed to investigate the involvement of long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 1638 (LINC01638) long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) in the recurrence of melanoma. Expression of LINC01638 lncRNA in skin biopsies and plasma of patients with melanoma, patients with benign skin lesions and healthy controls was detected by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Diagnostic values of LINC01638 lncRNA for melanoma were analyzed by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. The association between LINC01638 lncRNA and clinicopathological data of patients with melanoma was analyzed by χ² test. All patients were followed up for five years to record recurrence. LINC01638 lncRNA expression vectors and shRNAs were transfected into human melanoma cell lines and the effects of LINC01638 lncRNA overexpression and knockdown on cell proliferation were analyzed by cell counting kit-8 assay. LINC01638 lncRNA was significantly upregulated in patients with melanoma compared with the other two groups of patients, and upregulation of LINC01638 lncRNA distinguished patients with melanoma from patients with benign skin lesions and healthy controls. LINC01638 lncRNA expression was significantly associated with tumor size but not with other patient clinical data. Plasma levels of LINC01638 lncRNA were further increased during follow-up in patients with local recurrence but not in patients without recurrence. LINC01638 lncRNA overexpression promoted, while knockdown inhibited proliferation of cells of melanoma cell lines, C32 and SK-MEL-28, in vitro. The upregulation of LINC01638 lncRNA was likely associated with the local recurrence of melanoma following surgical resection.

Keywords: local recurrence; long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 1638 long non-coding RNA; melanoma.

Figure 1.

LINC01638 lncRNA is significantly upregulated in patients with melanoma. LINC01638 lncRNA expression was significantly upregulated in (A) skin biopsies and (B) plasma of patients with melanoma compared with patients with benign skin lesions and healthy controls. *P<0.05. LINC01638, long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 1638; lncRNA, long non-coding RNA.

Figure 2.

Upregulation of LINC01638 lncRNA distinguishes patients with melanoma from other the other two patient groups. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of the diagnostic value of LINC01638 lncRNA expression in skin biopsies for patients with melanoma compared with (A) healthy controls and (B) patients with benign skin lesions as references, and the diagnostic value of LINC01638 lncRNA expression in plasma for patients with melanoma compared with (C) healthy controls and (D) patients with benign skin lesions as references. LINC01638, long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 1638; lncRNA, long non-coding RNA.

Figure 3.

LINC01638 lncRNA expression is further upregulated in patients with local recurrence, however not in patients without recurrence during follow-up. LINC01638 long non-coding RNA expression (A) in patients with local recurrence and (B) patients without recurrence during the follow-up. *P<0.05. LINC01638, long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 1638.

Figure 4.

LINC01638 lncRNA overexpression and knockdown in cells of all three cell lines. Following transfection, LINC01638 lncRNA (A) overexpression and (B) knockdown were confirmed in cells of all three cell lines. *P<0.05. C, control, NC, negative control; shRNA, short hairpin RNA; LINC01638, long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 1638; lncRNA, long non-coding RNA.

Figure 5.

LINC01638 lncRNA overexpression promotes, while knockdown inhibits cancer cell proliferation. Effect of LINC01638 lncRNA (A) overexpression (B) knockdown on cell proliferation of two human melanoma cell lines C32 and SK-MEL-28, and normal skin cell line CCD-1059Sk. *P<0.05 vs C; ^#P<0.05 vs NC;. C, control, NC, negative control; shRNA, short hairpin RNA; LINC01638, long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 1638; lncRNA, long non-coding RNA.