Aim: To investigate the expression level of lncRNA MALAT1 in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and evaluate its clinical diagnostic value as a biomarker in PTC.
Methods: MALAT1 lncRNA expression in tissues was detected by qRT-PCR. The diagnostic value of MALAT1 as a biomarker in PTC was evaluated with receiver operating characteristics.
Results: MALAT1 expression was upregulated in PTC tissues compared with paired corresponding noncancerous tissues. We also found that upregulated MALAT1 expression was correlated with tumor size, lymph node metastases (p = 0.011) and WHO disease stage. The area under the curve was 0.6320, 0.7192, 0.7089 and 0.7000 for PTC, lymph node metastasis, extrathyroidal extension and WHO disease stage prediction, respectively.
Conclusion: Our finding suggests that MALAT1 may exert oncogenic function in PTC and may be a potential diagnostic marker for this cancer.
Keywords: diagnostic; long noncoding RNAs; papillary thyroid cancer.