TCGA study links coagulation-associated lncRNAs to prostate cancer prognosis

A study using prostate cancer transcriptomic and clinical data from The Cancer Genome Atlas identified a set of long non-coding RNAs, or lncRNAs, associated with coagulation-related tumor features and developed a prognostic signature from the molecules. The researchers divided the patient cohort into training and validation sets, used the resulting risk score to classify patients as high or low risk, and found significant activation of immune-related pathways in the high-risk group. In separate cell-culture experiments, silencing one RNA in the signature, SLC9A3-AS1, significantly suppressed the proliferative, migratory and invasive capacities of prostate cancer cells.

The investigators began by using Spearman correlation to screen for lncRNAs linked to coagulation features. They then filtered these candidates for differential expression between prostate cancer and paracancerous tissues, retaining molecules with an absolute log₂ fold change greater than 1 and a P value below 0.05. Prognosis-related lncRNAs were identified in the training cohort through univariate Cox regression followed by LASSO-Cox modeling, which uses the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator.

The resulting signature was tested in the validation cohort. Patients were then divided into high- and low-risk groups using the median risk score. To assess the signature’s potential prognostic value, the researchers combined the lncRNA risk score with clinical indexes in an integrated nomogram.

This model estimated the probabilities of one-, three- and five-year biochemical recurrence-free survival, and the combined approach was compared with conventional clinical indexes to evaluate discriminative capacity. The supplied results describe this as a model-building and validation study based on existing TCGA patient data, rather than prospective validation or evidence that the signature is ready for routine clinical use. The analysis also does not establish that using the model would improve patient outcomes or alter treatment decisions.

Pathway enrichment analysis indicated significant activation of immune-related signaling among patients assigned to the high-risk group. Immune-cell infiltration profiling further distinguished the tumor immune microenvironment between the two categories, revealing differences in immune-cell composition and in the expression of immune-related factors. These are associations observed between model-defined patient groups; they do not show that coagulation-associated lncRNAs directly cause changes in immune infiltration or that the signature identifies a treatment-responsive form of prostate cancer.

SLC9A3-AS1 was selected from the signature for functional assessment in prostate cancer cell lines. Silencing the RNA significantly reduced cell proliferation, migration and invasion, providing experimental support for a promotive role in these cellular behaviors. Those results were obtained in vitro and therefore do not demonstrate that suppressing SLC9A3-AS1 would prevent biochemical recurrence or improve survival in patients.

Subject of Research: Development and experimental evaluation of a coagulation-associated lncRNA prognostic signature in prostate cancer

Article Title: Identification of a coagulation-feature-associated lncRNA prognostic signature in prostate cancer

Article References: Wu, J., Qiu, J., Gu, B., He, X., Yang, M., Chen, X., & Yan, H. (2026). Identification of a coagulation-feature-associated lncRNA prognostic signature in prostate cancer. BMC Cancer. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-026-16405-4

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12885-026-16405-4

Keywords: prostate cancer, long non-coding RNAs, coagulation pathways, prognostic signature, TCGA, immune infiltration, tumor microenvironment, SLC9A3-AS1, cancer cell lines, biochemical recurrence, Identification, coagulation-feature-associated