Long non-coding RNA MALAT1 is an independent prognostic factor of osteosarcoma.

OBJECTIVE: Accumulating evidence revealed that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) were emerging regulators in cancer biology, and could be used as potential biomarkers for cancer prognosis. In this study, we focused on MALAT1 and investigated its expression pattern, clinical significance in osteosarcoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The expression of lncRNA MALAT1 was analyzed in 162 osteosarcoma tissues by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Then, we explored the potential relationship between MALAT1 expression levels in tumor tissues and clinicopathological features of osteosarcoma, and clinical outcome. RESULTS: We found that which was significantly up-regulated in osteosarcoma tissues compared with paired non-tumor tissues (p < 0.01). The expression of MALAT1 was remarkably associated with advanced clinical stage and distant metastasis of osteosarcoma patients (p < 0.05). The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that osteosarcoma patients with higher levels of MALAT1 had a shorter survival time. The multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that MALAT1 expression level was an independent prognostic factor for the overall survival rate of osteosarcoma patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrated the clinical prognostic significance and roles of MALAT1 in osteosarcoma, and suggested that MALAT1 may be considered as a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for osteosarcoma.