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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1539557
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Immunotherapy in the Elderly: Overcoming Metabolic and Inflammatory BarriersView all 3 articles
Diagnostic value of exosome-derived lncRNA PITPNA-AS1 in lung cancer
Provisionally accepted- 1Quanzhou First Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, China
- 2Department of Oncology Loujiang New City Hospital of Taicang, suzhou, China
- 3WuWei City The second people's Hospital, gansu, China
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Background: Lung cancer is one of the most lethal types of cancer, and effective diagnostic biomarkers are required. There is increasing evidences that exosome-secreted lncRNAs could play an important role in lung cancer diagnosis. However, the diagnostic value and molecular mechanism of the key lncRNA PITPNA-AS1 in lung cancer remain unclear. Methods: qRT-PCR was conducted to determine the levels of exosomal lncRNA PITPNA-AS1 in pleural effusions from lung adenocarcinoma, squamous cell lung carcinoma, and small cell lung cancer patients. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of PITPNA-AS1. Its role in lung cancer development was determined by a series of experiments, including CCK-8, flow cytometry, and transwell assays. RNA pull-down and RNA immunoprecipitation assays were carried out to examine the interaction between PITPNA-AS1 and Fragile X messenger ribonucleoprotein 1 (FMR1). Results: We discovered PITPNA-AS1 in exosomes from lung cancer patients. Its expression was significantly increased in lung cancer patients compared to non-cancer patients, and it was strongly associated with tumor stage, lymph node metastasis, and distant metastasis in all lung cancer subtypes assessed (all p<0.05). ROC curve analyses demonstrated that exosomal PITPNA-AS1 had a high accuracy for differentiating among lung cancer subtypes. Furthermore, PITPNA-AS1 boosted H1299 and A549 cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Mechanistically, via direct interaction, PITPNA-AS1 increased FMR1 stability by preventing its ubiquitination. Conclusions: These results reveal that exosome-derived lncRNA PITPNA-AS1 acts as an oncogene to promote malignant biological behaviors and is a promising diagnostic biomarker in lung cancer.
Keywords: lung cancer, Exosomes, LncRNA PITPNA-AS1, FMR1, diagnosis
Received: 04 Dec 2024; Accepted: 25 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chen, Feng, Liu, Huang, Su, Li and Zhu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xiaofeng Li, Quanzhou First Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, China
Jinfeng Zhu, Quanzhou First Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.