Decreased expression of lncRNA MEG3 in breast cancer is associated with poor prognosis

Background: Dysregulated long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play critical roles in tumorigenesis and tumor progression. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between lncRNA MEG3 expression and breast cancer (BC) clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis. Methods: Expression levels of lncRNA MEG3 in 257 BC specimens were determined by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), to clarify the clinical significance of lncRNA MEG3 in BC, we further explored the relationship between lncRNA MEG3 expression and overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS). Results: In the present study, we found that lncRNA MEG3 was down-regulated in BC tissues compared to the adjacent non-tumor tissues. In addition, the decreased lncRNA MEG3 expression was significantly associated with the lymph node metastasis, TNM stage and molecular subtypes (P < 0.05). Furthermore, patients with decreased expression of lncRNA MEG3 had poor OS (HR = 3.162, 95% CI = 1.026-9.741, P = 0.045), and RFS rates (HR = 2.730, 95% CI = 1.147-6.497, P = 0.023). Multivariate Cox proportional hazard model analysis demonstrated that high lncRNA MEG3 expression was an independent poor prognostic factor for BC patients. Conclusions: Our study suggests that decreased expression of lncRNA MEG3 is related to the prognosis of BC; it may be a new prognostic biomarker and potential therapeutic target for BC intervention.