BACKGROUND: Postoperative recurrence of cancers is responsible for a large portion of deaths in cancer patients. Our study investigated the involvement of lncRNA AWPPH in recurrence of resected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 128 patients were followed up for 3 years. Blood was extracted from each patient on the day of discharge, the day of the diagnosis of recurrence, or at the end of follow-up. Blood from 30 healthy controls was used as a control group. Patient were divided into 3 groups – a non-recurrence group (NR, n=54), a local recurrence group (LR, n=42), and a distant recurrence (DR, n=32) group – according to the follow-up results. Blood AWPPP was detected by qRT-PCR. AWPPH expression vectors were transfected into cells of human NSCLC cell lines. Cell migration and invasion were detected by Transwell migration and invasion assay, respectively. TGF-β1 expression was detected by Western blot analysis.

RESULTS: Blood AWPPH levels were the highest in the DR group, followed by the LR and NR groups. The lowest blood AWPPH levels were observed in the control group. Blood AWPPH levels increased significantly in the DR group but not in the NR and LR groups during follow-up. Blood AWPPH levels were positively correlated with TGF-β1 mRNA levels in the DR group but not in the NR and LR groups during follow-up. AWPPH overexpression promoted cell migration and invasion and upregulated TGF-β1 expression.

CONCLUSIONS: lncRNA AWPPH can promote postoperative distant recurrence in resected NSCLC by upregulating TGF-β1.

Keywords: Recurrence, Longitudinal Studies, transcriptional activation