Figure 1

RNA sequencing unveils a network between lncRNAs and miRNAs in PTC and reveals SPTY2D1-AS1 as an lncRNA downregulated in thyroid cancer. (A) Core miRNA–lncRNA regulatory network involving downregulated lncRNAs predicted to target key upregulated miRNAs in papillary thyroid cancer. Using the DIANA-LncBase v2.0 to predict miRNA–lncRNA interactions, we determined which lncRNAs among the 44 downregulated in a previous study⁷ contain putative miRNA responsive elements for the top upregulated thyroid cancer oncomiRNAs. The miRNA–lncRNA network drawn by Cytoscape 3 shows the relationships between 25 lncRNAs (green ovals) and the miRNAs they are predicted to regulate (red squares). (B,C) Expression levels of the indicated lncRNAs in normal and tumor tissues obtained from non-paired 59 normal and 497 tumor samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database (www.tanric.org). (D) SPTY2D1-AS1 levels in tumor tissues subdivided by stage (I–IV). Data were obtained from TCGA database (www.tanric.org). (E) Sequencing assay validation: RT-qPCR of SPTY2D1-AS1 levels in three technical replicates were performed on an independent cohort of matched human tumor and non-tumor samples (n = 7). Values represent the relative change in expression levels. Values represent mean ± SD. (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001).