Upregulation of the long non-coding RNA BANCR correlates with tumor progression and poor prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Esophageal squamous cell cancer was one of the most lethal tumors. The lack of effective early diagnosis and treatment ways brings its mortality quite high. Esophageal squamous dysplasia (ESD), is the only histopathology that predicts the development of ESCC. Recent evidence indicates that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play a critical role in the tumor progression and poor prognosis. BRAF activated non-coding RNA (BANCR) is a 693-bp transcript with a potential functional role in melanoma cell migration. The clinical significance of BANCR, and its’ relationship with precancerous lesion of ESCC are unclear. Expression of BANCR was analyzed in 142 ESCC tissues and eight ESCC cell lines using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays. We further analyzed the BANCR expression level in plasma and precancerous lesion of ESCC. In our results, BANCR levels in plasma were significantly higher in ESCC patients than in normal controls and correlated well with the presence of tumor status. Besides, BANCR expression increased significantly from low to high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia. Additionally, increased BANCR expression was associated with worse histologic grade, advanced TNM stage, more lymph node metastasis, and shorter survival of ESCC patients. The expression level of BANCR reverts to normal after the tumor has been resected, and the expression level of BANCR increased with the disease progression. Increased BANCR expression was found to be an independent prognostic factor for ESCC. In summary, BANCR may be a novel tumor biomarker for early detection, a prospective prognostic indicator and a potential therapeutic target for ESCC and ESD patients.