Page 147 - SRPSKO DRUŠTVO ISTRAŽIVAČA RAKA

SDIRSACR Oncology Insights

SESSION 10

BIOINFORMATICS AND CANCER GENOMICS

P54

Analysis of COMT-211 and AMPD3-206 transcripts in lung cancer

Nina Bogicevic, Aleksandra Nikolic, Sandra Dragicevic

Gene Regulation in Cancer Group, Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, University of Belgrade, Belgrade,
Serbia

Keywords: biomarkers, lung cancer, lncRNAs

Background: Lung cancer (LC) is often diagnosed at advanced stages, and there is an urgent need to develop new
tools for early disease detection and management strategies. Recent pan-cancer transcriptome analysis has revealed
increased expression of COMT-211 and AMPD3-206 transcripts in malignant compared to non-malignant lung tissue.
This study aimed to analyze the expression of COMT-211 and AMPD3-206 in LC using in silico and in vitro approaches
to evaluate their potential as biomarkers for disease detection.
Material and Methods: The coding potential, subcellular localization, and secondary structure of the transcripts were
predicted using available online tools. The UCSC Xena Browser platform was utilized to compare transcript expression
levels between malignant and non-malignant lung tissue samples, incorporating data from the GTEx and TCGA datasets.
Relative expression levels of COMT-211 and AMPD3-206 were quantified by qRT-PCR in the following lung cell lines:
malignant A549 and CRL2066, and non-malignant BEAS-2B.
Results: COMT-211 and AMPD3-206 were predicted to be non-coding transcripts (with coding probabilities of 3.5%
and 39.1%, respectively), predominantly localized in the cytoplasm, with COMT-211 showing a more stable secondary
structure than AMPD3. The results from the Xena Browser platform indicated a significantly increased expression of
both transcripts in primary tumor tissues compared to adjacent non-tumor tissues of patients with LC, as well as to
normal lung tissues of healthy individuals. While the expression of AMPD3-206 was similar between adjacent non-
tumor tissues of patients with LC and lung tissues of healthy individuals, a significant increase in the expression of
COMT-211 was observed in adjacent non-tumor tissues of patients with LC. Although COMT-211 was detected in all
analyzed lung cell lines, its expression was extremely low. In contrast, the expression of AMPD3-206 was higher, but no
significant differences were observed between the cell lines (p>0.05).
Conclusions: COMT-211 and AMPD3-206 transcripts may represent long non-coding RNAs. The upregulation of COMT-
211 in both tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues, along with its structural stability, suggests its potential as an early
marker of tumor-associated changes or the tumor microenvironment. In contrast, AMPD3-206 shows expression
patterns consistent with a tumor-cell origin. Further studies are needed to clarify their origin and biomarker potential
in lung cancer.

Acknowledgments and funding: This work was supported by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, SENSOGENE,
#6052315.

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