Decreased expression of SPINT1-AS1 and SPINT1 mRNA might be independent unfavorable prognostic indicators in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

The serine peptidase inhibitor, Kunitz type 1 antisense RNA1 (), a long non-coding RNA , has been linked to cancer progression. In this study, we aimed to explore the expression in matched esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and normal tissues, and analyze the potential correlations of expression with clinicopathological characteristics, in order to evaluate its prognosis and therapeutic value. SPINT1-AS1 expression was detected in 99 cases of matched ESCC and normal tissues samples using the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction method. The expression level (△Ct) of and was significantly downregulated in ESCC tissues compared with matched normal tissues (=0.0005; =0.0002, respectively), and there was an obvious positive correlation between and expression. Clinicopathological characteristics indicated that expression was correlated with age and tumor size, while SPINT1 mRNA expression was correlated with age and gender. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis of the expression level of and yielded an area under the ROC curve value of 0.638 and 0.625, respectively. The overall survival is shorter in patients with low expressed than those with high levels of (=0.044), and expression level is associated with the OS (=0.001). Univariate and multivariate analysis suggested that was an independent prognostic indicator in ESCC. We found that the expression of and is downregulated in ESCC tissues, which could contribute to tumor progression. and may be therapeutic targets and prognosis markers for ESCC.