Diagnostic value of long noncoding RNA SNHG15 in gastric cancer: in vitro and in silico studies

LncRNA SNHG15 has been recognized as the main factor in the progression of various cancer types. However, the underlying mechanisms are not well clarified. This research aimed to explore the diagnostic potential of SNHG15 in gastric cancer (GC) patients and also the effects of SNHG15-miRNA-mRNA network in GC pathobiology. The expression level of SNHG15 in GC tissues and adjacent normal tissues (ANTs) was evaluated by qRT-PCR and also considered in relation to clinicopathologic factors. The ROC curve was explored to consider the specificity and sensitivity of SNHG15. Gene ontology functional annotation and KEGG pathway analysis were performed in order to predict the effects of SNHG15-miRNA-mRNA network in GC pathobiology. SNHG15 was overexpressed in GC tissues compared to ANTs (fold change= 3.87 and P-value = 0.0022). The SNHG15 expression level was not significantly associated with clinicopathologic factors. ROC curve indicated the specificity of 63.51 and sensitivity of 79.73 and the AUC of 0.744 (P-value < 0.0001). Further gene network analysis revealed that SNHG15 interacts with has-miR-613, has-miR-542-3p, and has-miR-1236-3p, and may be involved in the GC pathobiology by affecting the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance, HIF-1 signaling pathway, and VEGF signaling pathway. It can be concluded that SNHG15 may be a diagnostic factor in GC and may contribute in a variety of cancer-related signaling pathways.