BACKGROUND: Marjolin ulcer (MU) is an aggressive cutaneous malignancy. Typically, MU occurs over a period of time in post-burn and/or post-traumatic lesions and scars. However, the pathogenesis of scar carcinogenesis and MU development remains to be elucidated. The present study aimed to investigate the long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) and messenger RNA (mRNA) expression profiling in MU, which could provide new information on the potential molecular mechanisms of MU development.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The lncRNA microarray analysis was conducted in normal skin, scar, and MU tissue, and quantitative real-time PCR experiment was carried out to validate the reliability of the microarray data. Furthermore, a series of integrative bioinformatic approaches were applied to decipher the function of differentially expressed lncRNAs.

RESULTS: A total of 7130 lncRNAs and 9867 mRNAs were differentially expressed among normal skin, scar, and MU tissues. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis demonstrated that these aberrantly expressed transcripts were mainly involved in cell cycle, immune response, and the p53 signaling pathway. Series Test of Cluster analysis indicated certain dysregulated lncRNAs were expressed with a gradually increasing or decreasing trend and might participated in malignant transformation of scar tissue postburn. Co-expression analysis showed 5 selected lncRNAs might regulate cell proliferation through the p53 signaling pathway. Finally, the competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network indicated that lncRNA uc001oou.3 might be implicated in ceRNA mechanism during MU development.

CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our study implied the aberrant expression of lncRNAs may play an important role in the pathogenesis and development of MU, and the exact mechanism warrants further investigation.

Keywords: carcinogenesis, Computational Biology, Microarray Analysis, Skin Neoplasms