Dear Editor,
We read the article “Expression of long noncoding RNA NBAT1 is associated with the outcome of patients with non-small cell lung cancer” by Wang et al.11 Wang DL, Yuan P, Tian JY. Expression of long noncoding RNA NBAT1 is associated with the outcome of patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Rev Assoc Med Bras. 2020;66(7):898-903. https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.66.7.898
https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.66.7.8...
with great interest. Although long noncoding RNA neuroblastoma-associated transcript one expression might contribute to tumor progression and poor prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), some points should be raised from our point of view.
First, what is the basis for grouping the expression of long noncoding RNA NBAT1 into two groups. For example, the cutoff value is the average NBAT1 expression level of all patients. As shown in Figure 1, expression of long noncoding RNA NBAT1 was not normally distributed. Thus, the median value of the NBAT1 expression level should be chosen as the cutoff criterion to dichotomize into high- and low-expression subgroups.
Second, more in vitro studies should be done to confirm this finding. The study found that low NBAT1 level was also significantly associated with lymph node metastasis.
It is known that lymph node metastasis was associated with poor prognosis of NSCLC. The reason for these apparently contradictory results is not clear.
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Funding: none.
REFERENCE
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1Wang DL, Yuan P, Tian JY. Expression of long noncoding RNA NBAT1 is associated with the outcome of patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Rev Assoc Med Bras. 2020;66(7):898-903. https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.66.7.898
» https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.66.7.898
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
26 Nov 2021 -
Date of issue
Oct 2021
History
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Received
09 Aug 2021 -
Accepted
14 Aug 2021