TY - JOUR AB - Cervical cancer (CC) is a common gynecological malignancy in women worldwide. Using an RNA sequencing profile from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the CC patient information, the aim of the present study was to identify potential long non‑coding RNA (lncRNA) biomarkers of CC using bioinformatics analysis and building a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) co‑expression network. Results indicated several CC‑specific lncRNAs, which were associated with CC clinical information and selected some of them for validation and evaluated their diagnostic values. Bioinformatics analysis identified 51 CC‑specific lncRNAs (fold‑change >2 and P<0.05), and 42 of these were included in ceRNA network consisting of lncRNA‑miRNA‑mRNA interactions. Further analyses revealed that differential expression levels of 19 lncRNAs were significantly associated with different clinical features (P<0.05). A total of 11 key lncRNAs in the ceRNA network for reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT‑qPCR) analysis to detect their expression levels in 31 pairs of CC clinical samples. The results indicated that 7 lncRNAs were upregulated and 4 lncRNAs were downregulated in CC patients. The fold‑changes between the RT‑qPCR experiments and the TCGA bioinformatics analyses were the same. Furthermore, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of four lncRNAs (EMX20S, MEG3, SYS1‑DBNDD2 and MIR9‑3HG) indicated that their combined use may have a significant diagnostic value in CC (P<0.05). To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to have identified CC‑specific lncRNAs to construct a ceRNA network and has also provided new insights for further investigation of a lncRNA‑associated ceRNA network in CC. In additon, the verification results suggested that the method of bioinformatics analysis and screening of lncRNAs was accurate and reliable. To conclude, the use of multiple lncRNAs may thus improve diagnostic efficacy in CC. In addition, these specific lncRNAs may serve as new candidate biomarkers for clinical diagnosis, classification and prognosis of CC. AD - Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210009, P.R. China Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Zhongda Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210009, P.R. China Department of Medical Insurance, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210009, P.R. China AU - Wu,Wen‑Juan AU - Shen,Yang AU - Sui,Jing AU - Li,Cheng‑Yun AU - Yang,Sheng AU - Xu,Si‑Yi AU - Zhang,Man AU - Yin,Li‑Hong AU - Pu,Yue‑Pu AU - Liang,Ge‑Yu DA - 2018/06/01 DO - 10.3892/mmr.2018.8846 EP - 7858 IS - 6 JO - Mol Med Rep KW - long non‑coding RNAs cervical cancer ceRNA network TCGA biomarkers PY - 2018 SN - 1791-2997 1791-3004 SP - 7845 ST - Integrated analysis of long non‑coding RNA competing interactions revealed potential biomarkers in cervical cancer: Based on a public database T2 - Molecular Medicine Reports TI - Integrated analysis of long non‑coding RNA competing interactions revealed potential biomarkers in cervical cancer: Based on a public database UR - https://doi.org/10.3892/mmr.2018.8846 VL - 17 ER -