Identifying long non-coding RNAs in triple-negative breast cancer

We investigated the expression patterns of lncRNAs and mRNAs from TNBC tissues and matched histological normal breast tissues with Agilent Human lncRNA array V4.0 (4 × 180 K), which include 78,243 human lncRNAs and 30,215 coding transcripts. We identified 1,758 lncRNAs and 1,254 mRNAs that were differentially expressed (≥ 2-fold change), indicating that many lncRNAs are significantly upregulated or downregulated in TNBC. Among these, XR_250621.1 and NONHSAT011259 were the most unregulated and down regulated lncRNAs. qRT-PCR was employed to validate the microarray analysis findings, and results were consistent with the data from the microarrays. GO analysis and KEGG pathway analysis were applied to explore the potential lncRNAs functions, and some pathways including microtubule motor activity and DNA replication were identified in TNBC pathogenesis.