Differentially Expressed Blood ARLNC1 in Combination with PCA3/PSA have Reassuring Clinical Applications in the Early Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer in Iranians: A pilot study

Prostate cancer (PCA) is the second most common malignancy in Western countries. Long non-coding RNAs are new markers in disease diagnosis. Our aim of this study was to investigate liquid biopsy biomarkers with high specificity and sensitivity for early diagnosis of PCA patients in Iran. Blood specimens were collected from 29 PCA, 32 benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH), and 29 control (CTRL) individuals. Real-time PCR analyzed expression amounts of PSA, ARLNC1, UCA1, and PCA3. The ROC curve (receiver operating characteristic curve) analysis evaluated the diagnostic power of the examined molecules for PCA. There was a significant upregulation of PCA3 in PCA and BPH groups compared to the controls (p values for PCA3=< 0.001 and BPH vs. CTRL = 0.0015) while there was no significant difference between PCA and BPH individuals. A significant upregulation of ARLNC1 was seen in BPH group compared to the controls (p value=0.0042). Also, PCA3 expression level showed a significant relationship with prostate volume. There was no significant difference in UCA1 and PSA expression levels among the three groups (>0.05). The PCA3/PSA ratio was significantly increased in PCA and BPH individuals vs. the CTRL group with high sensitivity and specificity. The gene expression of PCA3 and ARLNC1 in the BPH group showed a significant relationship with age. Our findings showed that in the diagnosis of prostate cancer, measuring the expression of PCA3, PSA, and ARLNC1 genes is necessary to determine the health, benign, or cancerous status of patients' prostate. Also, selecting the PCA3/PSA ratio provides a new approach for diagnosing this cancer if confirmed in a larger clinical sample size and functional studies.