What question did this study set out to answer?

This study aims to investigate the expression patterns of SNHG3 and LUNAR1 in colorectal cancer patients and assess their clinical relevance.

February 28, 2026Open Access

Small-nucleolar RNA host gene3 (SNHG3) and leukemia-associated non-coding IGF1R activator RNA 1 (LUNAR1) correlated with CRC patients’ clinical features: a step-toward ncRNA-precision

Puntos clave

This study aims to investigate the expression patterns of SNHG3 and LUNAR1 in colorectal cancer patients and assess their clinical relevance.
Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was employed to analyze serum levels of SNHG3 and LUNAR1.
Seventy Egyptian colorectal cancer patients were compared to 26 healthy controls.
Correlation analyses assessed relationships between lncRNA levels and clinical features of CRC.
Both SNHG3 and LUNAR1 showed significantly higher expression levels in CRC patients compared to controls (p < 0.0001).
SNHG3 levels correlated positively with advanced CRC stages and poorer clinical features such as tumor invasion and metastasis.
LUNAR1 expression was associated with larger tumor sizes and deeper invasion.
The two lncRNAs outperformed traditional biomarkers (CEA and CA19-9) in distinguishing CRC patients.

Resumen

Abstract Notch-signaling is implicated in tumorigenesis as well as Notch-associated long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) small nucleolar RNA host gene3 (SNHG3) and leukemia-associated non-coding IGF1R activator RNA 1 (LUNAR1) are highly expressed in various malignant tissues including colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the clinical and prognostic utility of these lncRNAs in CRC patients’ blood is still lacking. The aim of this study was to assess the expression patterns of circulatory Notch-associated lncRNAs SNHG3 and LUNAR1 and to explore their relevance for CRC follow up and risk assessment. Subject and methods: Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to quantify the expression levels of SNHG3 and LUNAR1 in sera of 70 Egyptian CRC patients’ and to compare them with 26 age- and sex-matched apparently healthy volunteer control group. Results: Serum fold-change expression of SNHG3 and LUNAR1 were up-regulated in CRC patients compared to the apparently healthy controls ( p < 0.0001). SNHG3 lncRNA fold expression levels were positively correlated with advanced CRC stage (III-IV) ( p = 0.0175) being highly related to poorer clinicopathological features of CRC patients including extensive tumor invasion ( p = 0.0046), vascular invasion (p = 0.0015), and lymph node metastasis ( p = 0.0175). Likewise, LUNAR1 lncRNA fold-expression level was significantly positively associated with larger tumor size (p = 0.0033) and deeper tumor invasion ( p = 0.042). The two lncRNAs had higher discriminative utility than either CEA or CA19-9 per the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, with higher sensitivities and specificities ( p < 0.0001). A significant positive correlation between SNHG3 and LUNAR1 lncRNAs fold expressions (r = 0.4615, p < 0.0001). Conclusion: SNHG3 and LUNAR1 might be useful non-invasive bio-molecular markers for CRC monitoring. Being correlated with poorer CRC patients’ clinical features, SNHG3 and LUNAR1 lncRNAs might constitute potential putative therapeutic targets for CRC, per identified downstream genes or proteins in silico, a step toward ncRNA-based precision medicine.

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