Genome-wide screening of the expression of long noncoding RNA and coding RNA expression in esophageal sqaumous cell cancer

In order to understand the role of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and their interaction with coding RNAs in esophageal sqaumous cell cancer (ESCC), we performed genome-wide screening of the expression of lncRNAs and coding RNAs from primary ESCC tissue and adjacent normal tissue using Agilent SurePrint G3 Human GE 8x60K Microarray. By comparing ESCC tissues and matched normal tissues, differentially expressed lncRNAs and coding RNAs were identified and confirmed with PCR and other independent studies. We further identified a subset of co-located and co-expressed lncRNAs and coding RNAs using bioinformatic tools and the analysis suggested that a subset of lncRNAs may influence nearby genes involved in the genesis of ESCC. Four pairs of ESCC primary tumors and adjacent normal tissues were used for genome-scale microarray experiments, which included long noncoding RNAs and coding RNAs. Selected lncRNAs expressed in the experiment were validated on independent matched-pair samples with PCR method.