Long Non-Coding RNA TUG1 Expression Is Associated with Different Subtypes in Human Breast Cancer

Taurine upregulated 1 gene (TUG1) is a long non-coding RNA associated with several types of cancer. Recently, differential expression of TUG1 was found in cancerous breast tissues and associated with breast cancer malignancy features. Although this is evidence of a potential role in breast cancer, TUG1 expression could not be associated with different subtypes, possibly due to the small number of samples analyzed. Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease and, based on molecular signatures, may be classified into different subtypes with prognostic implications. In the present study, we include analysis of TUG1 expression in 796 invasive breast carcinoma and 105 normal samples of RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and describe that TUG1 expression is increased in HER2-enriched and basal-like subtypes compared to luminal A. Additionally, TUG1 expression is associated with survival in HER2-enriched patients. These results reinforce the importance of TUG1 in breast cancer and outline its potential impact on specific subtypes.