Circular RNA_0001742 has potential to predict advanced tumor stage and poor survival profiles in tongue squamous cell carcinoma management.

BACKGROUND: Circular RNA_0001742 (circ_0001742) has been reported to be upregulated in tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) tissues/cells and regulate TSCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. This study aimed to further investigate the clinical significance of circ_0001742 in TSCC management. METHODS: Totally, 146 TSCC patients underwent surgical treatment were reviewed. Their fresh-frozen tumor tissue and adjacent tissue were acquired for detecting circ_0001742 expression via reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. According to circ_0001742 expression in tumor tissue, all patients were classified as tumor circ_0001742 low (0%-50% percentile) and high (50%-100% percentile) patients, the latter were further divided into the tumor circ_0001742 high+ (50%-75% percentile), high++ (75%-90% percentile), and high+++ (90%-100% percentile) patients, respectively. RESULTS: Circ_0001742 expression was increased in TSCC tumor tissue compared with adjacent tissue, and it presented good value in discriminating tumor tissue from adjacent tissue (area under the curve (AUC): 0.870, 95% CI: 0.831-0.910). Tumor high circ_0001742 expression was associated with higher T stage, N stage, and TNM stage, but not age, gender, or pathological grade. Furthermore, OS was reduced in tumor circ_0001742 high patients compared with tumor circ_0001742 low patients; moreover, OS was the shortest in tumor circ_0001742 high+++ patients, followed by tumor circ_0001742 high++ patients and tumor circ_0001742 high+ patients, and the longest in tumor circ_0001742 low patients. In addition, multivariate Cox's regression analysis revealed that higher tumor circ_0001742 expression was an independent predictive factor for decreased OS. CONCLUSION: Circ_0001742 serves as a potential biomarker for advanced tumor stage and poor survival in TSCC patients.