# 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

## TL;DR

This study shows that two non-coding RNAs, SNHG3 and LUNAR1, are elevated in colorectal cancer patients and correlate with poor clinical features, suggesting their potential as biomarkers for monitoring and treatment.

## Contribution

The study identifies SNHG3 and LUNAR1 as novel serum-based non-coding RNA biomarkers for colorectal cancer prognosis and monitoring.

## Key findings

- SNHG3 and LUNAR1 are significantly upregulated in CRC patient sera compared to healthy controls.
- Both lncRNAs correlate with advanced tumor stages and poor clinicopathological features like lymph node metastasis and tumor invasion.
- SNHG3 and LUNAR1 show higher diagnostic accuracy than traditional biomarkers CEA and CA19-9.

## 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.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1038/s41598-026-37432-y.