Helicobacter pylori infection, H19 and LINC00152 expression in serum and risk of gastric cancer in a Chinese population

Abstract

Gastric cancer (GC) is a consequence of multifactorial and multistep processes. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection plays a crucial role in gastric carcinogenesis. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have shown great potential as powerful cancer biomarkers. To investigate the possible roles of lncRNAs and H. pylori infection in GC development, we measured expression levels of three lncRNAs (H19, LINC00152, uc001lsz) in serum from a total of 285 Chinese participants using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. We found significant associations between high expression of both H19 and LINC00152 in serum and increased risk of GC; the adjusted OR for H19 was 2.17 (95% CI: 1.21-3.88), and for LINC00152 was 2.09 (95% CI: 1.18-3.70). Further analyses indicated an elevated risk of GC in subjects with both high H19 expression and H. pylori infection (OR: 13.75, 95% CI: 4.75-39.84). Significant joint effect between LINC00152 and H. pylori infection on risk of GC was also found (OR: 17.49, 95% CI: 4.78-63.92). Serum H19 and LINC00152 may serve as potential biomarkers for diagnosis of GC, particularly for those with H. pylori infection.