Downregulation of TMEM220-AS1, a novel long noncoding RNA, is associated with Gastric Cancer development

Background Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as crucial regulators in a wide array of biological mechanisms. Recent studies have demonstrated their strong association with both functional and pathological aspects of gastric cancer progression. Nonetheless, the specific role of TMEM220-AS1 in gastric tumorigenesis remains poorly characterized. This study aimed to elucidate the functional involvement of TMEM220-AS1 in gastric cancer and assess its potential as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker. The novelty of this work lies in its exclusive focus on TMEM220-AS1 within the context of gastric cancer, a setting not previously explored. TMEM220-AS1 was identified through integrated bioinformatic screening, followed by validation of its expression profile in gastric cancer specimens. Materials and Methods TCGA genomic repository was used to analyze the expression levels of TMEM220-AS1. Furthermore, the results for a subset of clinical specimens were validated using qRT-PCR. LncRNA TMEM220-AS1’s clinical relevance was analyzed using the TCGA-derived transcriptomic data and matched clinical profiles. The diagnostic utility of this lncRNA was further explored using ROC curve analysis. As a last step, the functional analysis of TMEM220-AS1 was evaluated by bioinformatics approaches. Results The current investigation indicates that gastric cancer samples exhibited significant downregulation of LncRNA TMEM220-AS1 expression compared to non-neoplastic gastric tissues, and these reduced levels were not related to the clinical characteristics of the patients. Additionally, ROC curve analysis suggests that the expression pattern of LncRNA TMEM220-AS1's may serve as a promising diagnostic indicator for gastric cancer. Functional annotation via in silico tools revealed TMEM220-AS1’s involvement in diverse biological pathways, such as complement and coagulation cascades, peroxisomal activity, histidine catabolism, cholesterol homeostasis, and fatty acid breakdown. Conclusion In conclusion, our finding demonstrates that TMEM220-AS1 is significantly under-expressed in gastric cancer are not associated to clinicopathological characteristics of gastric cancer patients. Based on ROC curve evaluation, TMEM220-AS1 may hold value as a novel biomarker for the early detection of gastric cancer.