Survival-related DLEU1 is associated with HPV infection status and serves as a biomarker in HPV-infected cervical cancer

Abstract

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common risk factor for the occurrence of cervical cancer (CC ). In recent years, the important roles of long non-coding RNA s (lncRNA s) in CC have emerged, but studies on the relationship between lncRNA s and HPV-positive (HPV+) CC remain scarce. The present study aimed to investigate whether lncRNA deleted in lymphocytic leukemia 1 (DLEU 1) is associated with HPV infection and explore the clinical significance of DLEU1 in HPV+ patients with CC . DLEU 1 expression was detected by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR . The ability of DLEU 1 to screen patients with CC from controls and differentiate individuals with different HPV infection status was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic analysis. The association of DLEU 1 with the survival prognosis of patients with CC was assessed by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression analysis. The RNA Interactome Database was used to predict molecules interacting with DLEU 1. The results indicated that DLEU1 expression was significantly upregulated in CC tissues and cell lines, particularly in those that were HPV+. In addition, DLEU 1 had a high diagnostic value in discriminating patients with CC and differentiating between HPV+ and HPV- patients with CC , and had a certain ability to screen HPV+ controls. DLEU 1 was correlated with HPV infection in CC patients. Furthermore, DLEU 1 was indicated to be associated with survival prognosis in both total patients with CC and HPV+ patients with CC , and independently predict the prognosis of patients with CC . Most of the molecules interacting with DLEU 1 were microRNA s. In conclusion, abnormal DLEU 1 expression is associated with HPV infection and may serve as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for HPV+ patients with CC .