Objectives: Gastric cancer (GC) causes no symptoms at early stages. However, with the progression, GC causes symptoms mimicking normal gastrointestinal issues, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), gastritis, or peptic ulcers (PU). CircRNA circSOBP has been characterized as a critical regulator in prostate cancer. The present study aimed to study its involvement in GC.
Materials and methods: Plasma samples were collected from GC patients (n = 64), IBS patients (n = 64), GERD patients (n = 64), gastritis patients (n = 64), PU patients (n = 64), and healthy controls (HCs, n = 64). Paired GC and non-tumor samples were from all GC patients (n = 64). Tissue and plasma samples were subjected to RT-qPCR to determine circSOBP expression. The role of circSOBP in distinguishing GC patients from other patients was analyzed by ROC curve. The 64 patients were followed up for 5 years to study the role of circSOBP in predicting the survival of GC patients.
Results: Decreased circSOBP RNA accumulation was observed in GC tissues compared to normal tissue samples. Decreased plasma circSOBP accumulation was only observed in GC patients, but not other patients, compared to HCs. With plasma circSOBP as a biomarker, GC patients were separated from other patients and HCs. Patients with high plasma or tissue levels of circSOBP showed better survival conditions. In addition, plasma and tissue circSOBP levels were only closely correlated with GC patients' tumor metastasis, but not other clinical factors.
Conclusions: Decreased circSOBP accumulation may be applied in clinical practice to improve the diagnosis and prognosis of GC.
Keywords: Gastric cancer; circSOBP; diagnosis; prognosis.