A Non-Coding RNA Landscape of Bronchial Epitheliums of Lung Cancer Patients

Abstract

We propose to systematically identify a non-coding RNA (ncRNA) profile of exfoliated bronchial epitheliums of sputum from lung cancer patients. Bronchial epithelial cells enriched from sputum of 32 lung cancer patients and 33 cancer-free smokers were analyzed by next-generation sequencing to comprehensively characterize the ncRNA profiles. In addition, 108 miRNAs, 88 small nucleolar RNAs, 13 piwi-interacting RNAs, 6 transfer RNAs, 4 ribosomal RNAs, 19 small nuclear RNAs, and 25 long-noncoding (lnc) RNAs displayed a significantly different level in bronchial epitheliums of sputum of lung cancer patients versus cancer-free smokers (all p = 0.002). Knockdown of SNHG9 in cancer cells reduced the cell growth, proliferation, and invasion in vitro and tumorigenesis in vivo. The multiple differentially expressed ncRNAs in bronchial epitheliums may contribute to the development and progression of lung cancer and provide potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for the disease.